CINAHL uses subject terms to categorize articles, and often assigns an article a type of study, such as Qualitative, Descriptive, Correlational, etc.
Under "Search Options”, check the "Research Article" box.
In the search boxes:
“Qualitative Studies” in MW Word in a Subject Heading
Some study types used as CINAHL subject headings:
Qualitative Studies, Quantitative Studies, Descriptive Research, Correlational Studies, Experimental Studies, Clinical Trials
All of the results should be of the appropriate type. In the article, read the abstract and/or the methodology section to confirm the type of study conducted.
To see a list of CINAHL study types, use the CINAHL HEADINGS button (at the top of the CINAHL screen), search for “Study Design,” and click the “Study Design” link.
In addition to searching for "Qualitative Studies" as a subject term, CINAHL provides a second method to identify these studies. To retrieve qualitative studies by the "Clinical Queries" method, in the "Search Options" section of the (main) Advanced Search screen:
This limiter will stay in effect for your subsequent searches unless it's removed. There are two ways to remove limiters in CINAHL.
To find systematic reviews in CINAHL, in the Search Options section of the (main) Advanced Search screen:
Under the Publication Type pull down menu, select Systematic Review.
To find clinical practice guidelines in CINAHL, in the Search Options section of the (main) Advanced Search screen: this in the first search box:
Be sure to use the quotation marks, which searches the words as a phrase, and the asterisk, which brings back both singular and plural.
You'll need to look through your results list to see which ones are actual specific clinical practice guidelines and which ones merely refer to clinical practice guidelines in a general way. In addition, a class textbook listed the following websites that provide clinical practice guidelines: