Article type
Year
Abstract
Objective: To develop a system for rating the quality of the consumer synopses of reviews produced for The Cochrane Library; to rate the quality of synopses produced for issue 3 of The Library for 2000; to make recommendations for improving the quality of synopses.
Methods: Synopses of Cochrane reviews aim to provide a brief outline of the evidence found in Cochrane reviews, in easy to read, "lay" language for consumers and other non-specialist readers. They are intended to be distributed freely on the Collaboration website, and through other communication systems such as the Consumer Network's What's New digest (available in hard copy as well as on the website). As they will be translated into many languages, and appear widely in paper form, they are intended to be both easy to translate, and designed to avoid the need for frequent updating. A rating tool was developed to measure the adherence to the key aspects of the formal guidelines for Cochrane synopses, and synopses on issue 3 of The Library will be rated by each of the authors against those criteria: * Structure (containing a "headline" and main text, within the word limit) * Content (including a background/context of the intervention(s), adhering to the guidelines on use of numbers and not including methodology, not including recommendations) * Language (approximately reaching the "house style" reading level, and using language from a "user" perspective rather than a "treating" perspective)
Results: Results of the analysis will be presented, according to three final ratings: good (meeting the guidelines); adequate (although not meeting the guidelines fully, being of sufficient quality for inclusion on the website and other publications); unacceptable (not meeting the guidelines sufficiently for wider publication). Initial analysis of issue 1 of 2000 indicated that of those synopses prepared by reviewers or review groups without editing by the Australasian Cochrane Centre, over half did not meet the guidelines sufficiently. Recommendations for improving the standard of consumer synopses will be made.
Methods: Synopses of Cochrane reviews aim to provide a brief outline of the evidence found in Cochrane reviews, in easy to read, "lay" language for consumers and other non-specialist readers. They are intended to be distributed freely on the Collaboration website, and through other communication systems such as the Consumer Network's What's New digest (available in hard copy as well as on the website). As they will be translated into many languages, and appear widely in paper form, they are intended to be both easy to translate, and designed to avoid the need for frequent updating. A rating tool was developed to measure the adherence to the key aspects of the formal guidelines for Cochrane synopses, and synopses on issue 3 of The Library will be rated by each of the authors against those criteria: * Structure (containing a "headline" and main text, within the word limit) * Content (including a background/context of the intervention(s), adhering to the guidelines on use of numbers and not including methodology, not including recommendations) * Language (approximately reaching the "house style" reading level, and using language from a "user" perspective rather than a "treating" perspective)
Results: Results of the analysis will be presented, according to three final ratings: good (meeting the guidelines); adequate (although not meeting the guidelines fully, being of sufficient quality for inclusion on the website and other publications); unacceptable (not meeting the guidelines sufficiently for wider publication). Initial analysis of issue 1 of 2000 indicated that of those synopses prepared by reviewers or review groups without editing by the Australasian Cochrane Centre, over half did not meet the guidelines sufficiently. Recommendations for improving the standard of consumer synopses will be made.