Bucyibaruta, Joy BlaisePeu, Mmapheko DoriccahBamford, LesleyVan der Wath, Anna ElizabethDyer, Thomas AnthonyMurphy, AndreaGatabazi, PaulAnokwuru, Rafiat AjokeMuhire, InnocentCoetzee, Clarissa AnnaCoetzee, HeleneMusekiwa, Alfred2024-10-012024-10-012023-03Bucyibaruta, J.B., Doriccah, M., Bamford, L., Van der Wath, A.E., Dyer, T.A., Murphy, A., Gatabazi, P. Anokwuru, R.A., Muhire, I., Coetzee, C.A., Coetzee, H. & Musekiwa, A. (2023). Building consensus in defining and conceptualizing acceptability of healthcare: A Delphi study. Public Health Nursing, 40, 273–282. https://DOI.org/10.1111/phn.13153.1368-9800 (print)1475-2727 (online)10.1111/phn.13153http://hdl.handle.net/2263/98417DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : To ensure transparency, the data collected and analysed during the current study are publicly available from Open Science Framework (OSF) and can be accessed by using this link: https://osf.io/w7pfm/.BACKGROUND : The concept of healthcare acceptability is important for nursing staff spending most of their time with patients. Nevertheless, acceptability remains confusing without a collective definition in existing literature. OBJECTIVE : This study aimed to create a consensus among experts on definition and conceptual framework of healthcare acceptability. METHODS :We conducted tworounds of Delphi surveys to collect opinions from experts on definition and conceptual framework of healthcare acceptability proposed following thematic content analysis. We calculated the consensus among experts using the modified Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument and followed the guidance on conducting and reporting Delphi studies (CREDES) best practices. RESULTS : A total of 34 experts completed two rounds of Delphi survey. The definition was validated through consensus as: “a multi-construct concept describing the nonlinear cumulative combination in parts or inwhole of experienced or anticipated specific healthcare from the relevant patients/participants, communities, providers/researchers or healthcare systems’ managers and policy makers’ perspectives in a given context.” The overall quality rating was 92.6% and 95.1% for the proposed definition and conceptual framework respectively. CONCLUSION : Opinions collected from experts provided significant insights to build a consensus on healthcare acceptability advancing public health nursing.en© 2022 The Authors. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) licence.Conceptual frameworkDefinitionDelphi techniqueHealthcare acceptabilityPublic health nursingSDG-03: Good health and well-beingArticle