{
  "abstract": "Introduction Palliative cancer care is comprehensive, specialised medical care of patients that aims to alleviate physical, mental and emotional distress based on patients’ needs rather than on prognosis. In Ethiopia, the federal ministry of health started palliative care (PC) in 2016. Since then, services have been developed and integrated as important components of the Health Sector Transformation Plan II. However, there is a scarcity of nationally summarised data regarding PC service utilisation in Ethiopia. Therefore, this protocol describes a planned systematic review and meta-analysis that will evaluate utilisation of PC services and its predictors among adult cancer patients in Ethiopia.Methods and materials The online databases of PubMed, Hinari, EMBASE, CINHAL, Science Direct, Scopus and Google Scholar will be comprehensively searched from inception to 31 February 2025. To assess the quality of included studies, the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools will be used. The statistical software STATA V.17 will be used for data analyses. To examine the heterogeneity between studies, inverse variance (I 2) will be used. To calculate the pooled prevalence of PC service utilisation, a fixed or random effects meta-analyses model will be used with a 95% CI, depending on the presence or absence of heterogeneity between included studies. To look for publication bias, a visual inspection of the funnel plot and Egger and Begg’s regression test and a 5% level of significance will be used.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not applicable. The results will be disseminated to academic beneficiaries and the public.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia"
      ],
      "name": "Abel Desalegn Demeke"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia"
      ],
      "name": "Alemayehu Yeshiwas"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia"
      ],
      "name": "Habtamu Gebrie"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia"
      ],
      "name": "Mequanint Ayehu Akele"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia"
      ],
      "name": "Anteneh Gashaw"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Pediatrics and Child Health Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Woldia University, Woldia, Ethiopia"
      ],
      "name": "Abraham Dessie Gesssess"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia"
      ],
      "name": "Takla Tamir Melkie"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Cancer Treatment Center, College of Medicine and Health Science, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Southern Nations, Ethiopia"
      ],
      "name": "Netsanet Bogale"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Medical Laboratory Science, College of Health Science, Oda Bultum University, Chiro, Ethiopia"
      ],
      "name": "Wondimagegn Wolde Eba"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis on utilisation of palliative care service and predictors among adult cancer patients in Ethiopia",
  "uid": "73f8dce5-5111-5a83-9274-4b0c472f584b"
}