PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Anna Dania
AU  - Zsolt Nagykaldi
AU  - Ari Haaranen
AU  - Jean W. M. Muris
AU  - Philip H. Evans
AU  - Pekka Mäntyselkä
AU  - Chris van Weel
TI  - A Review of 50-Years of International Literature on the Internal Environment of Building Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs)
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2021.04.200595
DP  - 2021 Jul 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
PG  - 762--797
VI  - 34
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/34/4/762.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/34/4/762.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2021 Jul 01; 34
AB  - Purpose: Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) have developed dynamically across the world, paralleling the emergence of the primary care discipline. While this review focuses on the internal environment of PBRNs, the complete framework will be presented incrementally in future publications.Methods: We conducted a scoping review of the published and gray literature. Electronic databases, including MEDLINE (PubMed), OVID, CINAHL (EBSCOhost), Scopus, and SAGE Premier, were searched for publications between January 1, 1965 and December 31, 2020 for English-language articles. Rigorous inclusion/exclusion criteria were implemented to identify relevant publications, and inductive thematic analysis was applied to elucidate key elements, subthemes, and themes. Social network theory was used to synthesize findings.Results: A total of 229 publications described the establishment of 93 PBRNs in 15 countries that met the inclusion criteria. The overall framework yielded 3 main themes, 12 subthemes, and 57 key elements. Key PBRN activities included relationship building between academia and practitioners and development of a learning environment through multidirectional communication.Conclusions: PBRNs across many countries contributed significantly to shaping the landscape of primary health care and became an integral part of it. Many common features within the sphere of PBRNs can be identified that seem to promote their establishment across the world.