SynthesisHealth policy and planning2026
Older adults' experiences of health seeking in rural areas in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of qualitative studies.
Synthesis in Health policy and planning, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The global aged population is expected to reach 2.1 billion by 2050 and ∼40% of them will live in rural areas of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This systematic review aims to synthesize the qualitative literature on rural older adults' experiences of health-seeking in LMICs as well as explore the factors that influence their experiences during their health-seeking journeys. We searched Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL to identify studies published from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2024 (PROSPERO registration ID: Blinded For Review). We used a thematic synthesis approach to analyse included studies. Among the 19 studies with 28 articles and 484 participants included, 16 were rated as high quality, 9 as moderate quality, and 3 as weak quality. We identified four primary analytic domains associated with their experiences in health-seeking journeys: (i) individual-depicting the inner world of rural older adults; (ii) interpersonal-navigating the rural social network; (iii) organizational-navigating the rural health care systems, and; (iv) community and macrosystems-economy, society, and public policy in rural areas. Rural older adults in LMICs have experienced unique and multi-level challenges in seeking care. To overcome these challenges, rural older adults demonstrated resilience and creativity (e.g. utilizing informal institutions), to navigate their health-seeking journey. Future research should aim to better understand the resilience and agency in local older adults' health-seeking experiences and provide constructive solutions to overcome identified barriers to care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.