How Inhaler Technique is Assessed in Children and Young People: A Scoping Review Protocol

Abstract BackgroundAsthma is the most common chronic childhood condition. Unfortunately, many children have poorly controlled asthma. Current guidelines strongly recommend that all asthma review appointments must include an assessment of the patient’s inhaler technique. However, most guidelines do not provide information on how the healthcare professional should conduct this assessment. The aim of this scoping review is to explore the published literature on methods used to assess inhaler technique. MethodsThis scoping review will follow the frameworks founded by Arksey and O’Malley and the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines. We will search MEDLINE, Embase, Cinahl and the Cochrane library for studies published from 1st January 1956 to 30th November 2021, on methods of assessing inhaler technique in children and young people aged 1 to 16 years of age with asthma. We will include randomised control trials, case control studies, cohort studies and retrospective studies which investigate methods used to assess inhaler technique in children and young people. We will include studies conducted in all areas where inhaler technique assessment occurs and studies conducted by all healthcare professionals who usually undertake inhaler assessments in practice. Two reviewers will complete all screening and data extraction independently. Data will be extracted onto a charting table and a descriptive summary of the results presented. DiscussionThis scoping review will provide a broad overview of currently used methods to assess inhaler technique in children and young people with asthma. The analysis of which will allow us to consider how these methods might be used in clinical practice and research settings. Scoping review registration Open Science Framework (osf.io/e47sa).