Factors influencing referral to and uptake and attendance of pulmonary rehabilitation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a qualitative evidence synthesis of the experiences of service users, their families, and healthcare providers (Protocol)

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Qualitative). The objectives are as follows: • To identify factors that influence referral to pulmonary rehabilitation for COPD from the perspective of service users, their family/carers, and healthcare providers. • To identify factors that influence uptake of pulmonary rehabilitation for COPD (i.e. at least one attendance of an assessment or first programme session) from the perspective of service users, their family/carers, and healthcare providers. • To identify factors that influence attendance at pulmonary rehabilitation programmes for COPD from the perspective of service users, their family/carers, and healthcare providers. • To develop an inductive explanatory framework for how these factors may interact to contribute to better or poorer uptake or completion of pulmonary rehabilitation in order to guide actions of healthcare decision-makers to improve opportunities for people with COPD to benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation.