Objectives: To provide participants with practical guidance on appropriate interpretation of the results of reviews, avoiding the critical errors most often found in Cochrane’s screening and auditing programs.
Description: Using small groups, we will focus on using GRADE to structure good practice communication of the findings of Cochrane Reviews (CRs).
In 2014, the Cochrane Editorial Unit conducted an audit of published CRs, building on their ongoing screening program for submitted manuscripts. The most common serious errors relate to the consistent reporting of results across the review (including the Discussion, Conclusions, Abstract and Plain language summary), and in particular using GRADE considerations such as risk of bias, consistency and precision to contextualise the findings. Interpreting statistically non-significant results is a particular challenge.
In this workshop:
- participants will be given completed 'Summary of findings' (SoF) tables, including numerical results and assessments of the quality of evidence, and will be asked to draft an appropriate Abstract;
- discussion and comparison of the drafts will follow, highlighting the issues arising, with reference to the MECIR standards (Methodological Expectations of Cochrane Intervention Reviews) for reporting the results of CRs and explanations of commonly observed errors.
Note: a basic understanding of GRADE and 'SoF' tables will be expected knowledge for participants in this workshop.