Article type
Year
Abstract
Objectives: When researching interventions to improve health, it is important to consider the perspectives and experiences of the intended recipients of those interventions. Accordingly, it may be useful for systematic reviews to consider studies that examine people's perspectives and experiences ('views' studies) as well as trials on intervention effects. At the UK-based Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) we have developed a set of methods for integrating the findings of qualitative and other types of 'views' studies with trials within a single systematic review.
In this workshop we aim to share our experiences of using these methods, and will invite participants to discuss the potential relevance of this approach to their own reviews.
Description: We will illustrate the methods using a recent systematic review of the barriers to, and facilitators of, healthy eating in children. We will describe how we: 1) identified trials and 'views' studies; 2) assessed their methodological quality using tools appropriate for each study type; and 3) conducted three types of synthesis - a statistical meta-analysis; a qualitative thematic analysis; and a 'mixed methods' synthesis across views studies and trials.
In small groups, participants will be encouraged to explore some of the methods illustrated. We will then invite participants to consider with us the strengths and limitations of the approach reflecting especially on how including 'views' studies allowed us to: 1) gain an understanding of the social context of children's lives and what they consider has an impact on their food choices; 2) explore heterogeneity in ways we could not have anticipated without considering studies of children's views; and 3) to make focused policy relevant recommendations for practice and for future research. There will be an opportunity to reflect on how this approach might be of value to participants own reviews.
Target audience: People interested in incorporating the views of the research population and/or diverse study designs in systematic reviews.
Style: Training workshop
In this workshop we aim to share our experiences of using these methods, and will invite participants to discuss the potential relevance of this approach to their own reviews.
Description: We will illustrate the methods using a recent systematic review of the barriers to, and facilitators of, healthy eating in children. We will describe how we: 1) identified trials and 'views' studies; 2) assessed their methodological quality using tools appropriate for each study type; and 3) conducted three types of synthesis - a statistical meta-analysis; a qualitative thematic analysis; and a 'mixed methods' synthesis across views studies and trials.
In small groups, participants will be encouraged to explore some of the methods illustrated. We will then invite participants to consider with us the strengths and limitations of the approach reflecting especially on how including 'views' studies allowed us to: 1) gain an understanding of the social context of children's lives and what they consider has an impact on their food choices; 2) explore heterogeneity in ways we could not have anticipated without considering studies of children's views; and 3) to make focused policy relevant recommendations for practice and for future research. There will be an opportunity to reflect on how this approach might be of value to participants own reviews.
Target audience: People interested in incorporating the views of the research population and/or diverse study designs in systematic reviews.
Style: Training workshop