[Meta-analysis of the research findings concerning functional relationships of explanatory variables to hope].

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to meta-analyze the relationships of major concepts, which were made by synthesizing similar explanatory variables into more comprehensive concepts, to hope.

Method: The relevant researches from Jan 1980 to Dec 2003, performed in adults or adult patients, were collected. Using the SAS program, meta-analysis were done with the input data of the number of subjects, the correlation coefficients provided from most of the studies or a few transformed correlation coefficients from F value.