## 3 Methodology  
As a result of the fragmented and scattered nature of the literature, a systematic review and meta-analysis was not feasible. Moreover, the subject is comparatively understudied and crosses several approaches and disciplines. This study maps current research on this topic based on scholarly publications, including qualitative and quantitative studies. Due to the nature of the task and the current state of research, a scoping review was considered appropriate [54]. The study follows the PRISMA 2020 guidelines for scoping reviews [55]. In order to conduct the search, the electronic databases PubMed/Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and ScienceDirect were searched with terms, syntaxes, and Boolean combinations. The following key search terms were used in the search: obstructive sleep apnoea, OSA, nurses, nurses' roles, primary care, primary setting, management, intervention, and sleep units.  
The inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed studies, including quantitative and qualitative studies, as well as mixed methods studies, studies focused on individuals with OSA of any age group and studies which displayed the nursing contribution to the management of obstructive sleep apnoea in primary care or in sleep units. Inclusion was restricted to English language publications published from January 2015.  
This review excluded studies that had been published before 2015, were not in English, or were abstracts, conference papers, editorial studies, commentaries, or grey literature. Choosing 2015 as the year of publication was driven by the desire to present the most current knowledge about the topic rather than leaving the year of published articles unlimited/open.  
To manage references, to look for duplicates, and eliminate them, EndNote 9.2 was used as a citation management tool. To maintain the precise numbers obtained from each database, the references were exported to the software. After deduplication, the references were exported to Rayyan using the Rayyan tool [56]. Using the inclusion and exclusion criteria, two reviewers independently examined the titles and abstracts of the references, and any disagreements between them were resolved by consensus. The complete texts of the articles were searched for relevant references. Full-text publications were screened using the same methods as title/abstract screening. Using a custom data charting form recommended by [PERSON] and [PERSON] (2007) [57], the authors, title, publication year, country, study design and sample were collected from the publications. In June 2021, the five databases yielded a total of 566 articles. Following the removal of duplicates, 345 articles were selected for screening. Additionally, 300 studies were disregarded because they failed to present results particular to the role of nursing in OSA management. Of the 45 articles which were retrieved fully, only 10 met all the inclusion and exclusion criteria (Figure 1). The articles included were coded thematically and classified according to major themes and subthemes [58].  
A new search of relevant articles was conducted in February 2023, and as a result two new articles were added to the review, as a result, the total of included articles is 12.  
Critical analysis can assist researchers in focusing their attention on articles relevant to the research issue and substantiating their assertions with reliable evidence. Furthermore, it can assist them in finding high-quality research that is directly relevant to their practice [59]. A quality assessment was performed using design-specific frameworks provided by the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP). The guiding quality questions were used as a guide to inform decisions about the risk of various systematic biases. They also helped to inform decisions about each study's applicability to other contexts in light of the geographical setting, cohort characteristics, and the likelihood of selection bias (Appendix B) [60].  
Figure 1: PRISMA Flow Chart.