Objectives:
- To discuss how dissemination bias in qualitative research can be conceptualised.
- To discuss how to assess the impacts of dissemination bias on qualitative evidence syntheses' findings.

Description: Dissemination bias (also called publication bias) has been studied widely in the context of intervention effectiveness studies and reviews of intervention effectiveness. However, this bias has been studied little in the context of qualitative research, and we know little about how dissemination bias might impact on qualitative evidence syntheses' findings and on assessments of confidence in these findings. The GRADE-CERQual Group has previously defined dissemination bias in qualitative research as “a systematic distortion of the phenomenon of interest due to selective dissemination of qualitative studies or the findings of qualitative studies”.

Workshop structure:
- Input 1 (8 mins): What is dissemination bias in qualitative research?
- Input 2 (8 mins): The extent of dissemination bias in qualitative research – findings from a global survey.
- Small group discussion (40 mins) on:
1. whether the definition captures the scope of dissemination bias in qualitative research;
2. how to assess the likely impacts of dissemination bias on qualitative evidence synthesis findings and GRADE-CERQual assessments of confidence in the evidence.
- Plenary (30 mins): What is the way forward for understanding the impacts of dissemination bias in qualitative research?