Data sources
Sources for the concept analysis were sought in a series of
phases. First, known practice guidelines were assembled and
served to validate findings later. Next, journal articles
indexed in electronic databases were retrieved using individual
or combinations of the following terms: oral hygiene, oral
care, mouth care, nurs*. A search of the Cumulative Index of
Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) was followed
by a search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane
Library and Web of Science. The web search engine Google
Scholar was used to locate articles that may have been missed
in the other databases. The search was limited to articles that
were: (a) published in English; (b) research articles or review
articles; and (c) published from January 2002–March 2012.
The purpose of this electronic database search was to locate
articles that would illuminate uses of the concept, or in this
case, the contexts where the concept is used.