Article type
Abstract
Background: Climate change is a major threat to human health and health systems. Adaptation involves adjusting to the current and predicted effects of climate change, to reduce vulnerability to harmful effects. Strategies for adaptation can have both direct and indirect health benefits. Evidence synthesis collating data on the effectiveness of adaptation interventions is therefore of strong interest to the health community and the public at large. Effective search strategies are a cornerstone of high-quality syntheses so appropriate methods are crucial.
Objective: To present the challenges in creating a search strategy for a scoping review on climate change adaptation measures
Methods: The primary research question is, 'Globally, what adaptation measures have been effective in reducing the negative impacts of climate change on human health?' We designed search strategies for OVID Medline, OVID Embase, Web of Science and Academic Search Complete, as well as for numerous grey literature sources, EBSCO Open Dissertations and Google Scholar.
Results: Numerous iterations of the search strategy were required for this scoping review. Challenges included:
- developing a working definition and list of search terms to adequately cover the broad concept of 'health impacts';
- creating a filter for a wide range of study designs (not just clinical studies) that are measuring effectiveness of adaptation initiatives;
- encompassing the wide range of activities that can be considered as adaptation initiatives with direct or indirect health co-benefits;
- capturing studies that are relevant but that are not explicitly described as being related to climate change;
- teasing out health benefits from other social, economic and/or environmental benefits.
Conclusions: The impacts of climate change will be more deeply felt around the world in the coming decades so it is essential to establish what is effective for protecting human health. Developing high-quality evidence syntheses about the health impacts of climate change will be an important contribution to global adaptation planning. Well-designed search strategies are a fundamental component of this work, and the complexities of designing them must be thoroughly explored.
Objective: To present the challenges in creating a search strategy for a scoping review on climate change adaptation measures
Methods: The primary research question is, 'Globally, what adaptation measures have been effective in reducing the negative impacts of climate change on human health?' We designed search strategies for OVID Medline, OVID Embase, Web of Science and Academic Search Complete, as well as for numerous grey literature sources, EBSCO Open Dissertations and Google Scholar.
Results: Numerous iterations of the search strategy were required for this scoping review. Challenges included:
- developing a working definition and list of search terms to adequately cover the broad concept of 'health impacts';
- creating a filter for a wide range of study designs (not just clinical studies) that are measuring effectiveness of adaptation initiatives;
- encompassing the wide range of activities that can be considered as adaptation initiatives with direct or indirect health co-benefits;
- capturing studies that are relevant but that are not explicitly described as being related to climate change;
- teasing out health benefits from other social, economic and/or environmental benefits.
Conclusions: The impacts of climate change will be more deeply felt around the world in the coming decades so it is essential to establish what is effective for protecting human health. Developing high-quality evidence syntheses about the health impacts of climate change will be an important contribution to global adaptation planning. Well-designed search strategies are a fundamental component of this work, and the complexities of designing them must be thoroughly explored.