Introduction/

Objective:

To demonstrate workshop and multi-media methods for engaging consumers and professionals in interactive discussions about systematic reviews.

Methods:

Multidisciplinary working is a feature of CASP which offers technical training in for all group members, with additional support for consumers, and an opportunity to work together as a team away from the pressures of routine work. CASP workshops have increased participants' understanding of evaluation and critical appraisal and have offered opportunities for scrutinising research from a consumer perspective. In particular, workshops have highlighted the difference in lay and medical use of language and revealed consumer interest in a broad range of outcomes for measuring the impact of care on the physical and emotional health of patients, their families and carers.

The poster presentation will demonstrate two training methods and discuss the potential for using CASP skills to facilitate consumer contributions to prioritising and conducting systematic reviews.

1. workshops where participants are taken through the process of making sense of the evidence - this is an interactive journey, building on current knowledge and experience and sharing and learning from each other.
2. a demonstration of how critical appraisal skills can be imparted through multi-media methods, and how people are enabled to learn in their own time, at a pace to suit them and at a level appropriate to their current knowlege base.

Results:

Cochrane Review Groups can draw on CASP's cascade model of workshops which have followed both networks of professional groups (eg. dentistry, mental health and physiotherapy) and consumers (eg. National Childbirth Trust, Community Health Councils) throughout the UK. International networks can now take advantage of the newly developed interactive learning packages.

Discussion:

The CASP programme is being successfully cascaded and sustained in most regions in England, Scotland and Wales and initial demonstration workshops have been undertaken in Northern Ireland. CASP is also being cascaded by the NCT, MSLCs and CHCs and other specific professions e.g. dentistry, mental health and physiotherapy. To build on its success and maintain momentum it will now be taken forward through interactive learning packages.