Objective: The objective of this review is to explore the experiences of adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease living with fatigue.

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is an incurable disease that causes multiple physical, social, and psychological burdens to those affected as well as their caregivers. One symptom that affects the quality of life of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is fatigue. However, the experiences of fatigue disclosed by people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have not been widely documented in previous reviews. The findings of this review will provide insights into how people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease experience fatigue, which will be useful for developing, targeting, and implementing needs-based counseling interventions to help them deal with fatigue and maintain functioning.

Inclusion criteria: This review will consider studies that include adults (>18 years) with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at any stage, and that focus on the experiences of fatigue in any context, including health services (in- and out-patient), community, work, leisure, and home.

Methods: MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Academic Search Premier, Web of Science, Medic, OpenGrey, and ProQuest Dissertation and Theses will be searched for relevant published and unpublished literature with no restrictions on publication date. Study selection, quality appraisal, and data extraction will be conducted by 2 independent reviewers. Eligible studies will be evaluated using the JBI critical appraisal tool for qualitative research. Findings will be pooled using the JBI method of meta-aggregation, and a level of credibility will be assigned to the findings. The findings will be graded according to the ConQual approach for establishing confidence in findings.

Systematic review registration number: PROSPERO CRD42021242227