Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: The social care field is rich in information but sometimes light on evidence. Experience since 2001 at the Social Care Institute for Excellence, UK, demonstrates that there may often not be robust empirical evidence to answer effectiveness questions. Other data usually exist which may illuminate the questions at hand, and identify the potential to answer not only effectiveness questions, but other relevant questions in relation to process, implementation and service user perspective. Systematic mapping was originally developed by the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI Centre) at the Institute of Education, University of London and developed further for use in social care, in partnership between the EPPI Centre and the Social Care Institute for Excellence
Objectives: To map broadly the literature related to the needs of families where there are one or more dependent children and a parent has a mental illness. The intention was to inform several questions covering different issues in this area: the detection and impact of parental mental health problems; the acceptability, accessibility and effectiveness of interventions; the needs of specific groups such as black and minority ethnic families.
Methods: A clear question was defined and explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria established. A search strategy was devised and implemented. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were retrieved and coded in EPPI Reviewer software using a range of topic specific and generic keywords.
Results: After extensive screening, 738 studies were retrieved and coded. This database clarified the potential to conduct systematic reviews to answer the questions at hand, enabling clear planning of the way forward. Data will be presented that examine in more detail the range of studies retrieved and the contribution of this method to the evidence base.
Conclusions: Systematic mapping is an important new development in the growing field of evidence in social care, enabling better targeting of review resources, and timely identification of gaps in the evidence base.
Objectives: To map broadly the literature related to the needs of families where there are one or more dependent children and a parent has a mental illness. The intention was to inform several questions covering different issues in this area: the detection and impact of parental mental health problems; the acceptability, accessibility and effectiveness of interventions; the needs of specific groups such as black and minority ethnic families.
Methods: A clear question was defined and explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria established. A search strategy was devised and implemented. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were retrieved and coded in EPPI Reviewer software using a range of topic specific and generic keywords.
Results: After extensive screening, 738 studies were retrieved and coded. This database clarified the potential to conduct systematic reviews to answer the questions at hand, enabling clear planning of the way forward. Data will be presented that examine in more detail the range of studies retrieved and the contribution of this method to the evidence base.
Conclusions: Systematic mapping is an important new development in the growing field of evidence in social care, enabling better targeting of review resources, and timely identification of gaps in the evidence base.