Brazilian Cochrane Center strategies for disseminating the Cochrane methodology for systematic reviews

Article type
Authors
Martimbianco ALC1, Costa MB1, Porfírio GJM1, Silva V1, Grande AJ1, Torres MFS1, Carvalho MR1, Fioretti BTS1, Torloni MR1, Riera R1, Atallah A1
1Brazilian Cochrane Center, Brazil
Abstract
Background: The systematic review (SR) is an essential study for taking clinical decision and has attracted a great deal of people interested in having a better knowledge of it. Cochrane Collaboration makes available extensive support material for conducting such study, but in English only. In order to disseminate that material to other countries it is fundamental to have it translated and didactically presented. The Brazilian Cochrane Center (BCC) has been developing tools to broadcast the material in Portuguese in order to motivate researchers from Portuguese speaking countries and promote the adequate training for performing the Cochrane SR.

Objectives: Verifying the strategies elaborated by BCC for the dissemination and learning of the methodology proposed by Cochrane Collaboration.

Results: The BCC created the Online Course of Cochrane Systematic Reviews based on the Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (available at http://www.virtual.epm.br/cursos/metanalise/#). It is a free of tax course with no pre-requirements that presents the basic principles for the planning and conduction of a Cochrane Review in an easy and didactic way. Until April 2013 the course had a total of 105.741 accesses. The students interested in deepen their knowledge on Cochrane SR are instructed to participate in workshops offered by BCC, which take part every 2 months in average, and are split in two levels: basic and advanced.

Conclusions: Among the strategies proposed by BCC for the dissemination and learning of the Cochrane methodology, the Online Course of Cochrane Systematic Reviews seems to be a viable, didactic and accessible strategy for any Portuguese speaking individuals. The course was updated by the BCC team in 2012, according to the last version published by Handbook, and the version will be available online until June 2013.