Improving utility of evidence synthesis for healthy public policy: The three Rs (relevance, rigor, and readability [and resources])

American Journal of Public Health

Volumn 103, Issue 8, 2013, Pages

  Thomson, Hilary ^a  

^a MRC SOCIAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH SCIENCES UNIT   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE; HUMAN; LITERATURE; MANAGEMENT; METHODOLOGY; POLICY;

EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE; HUMANS; POLICY MAKING; PUBLIC POLICY; RESEARCH DESIGN; REVIEW LITERATURE AS TOPIC;

EID: 84880170882     PISSN: 00900036     EISSN: 15410048     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301400     Document Type: Article

References (54)

1. Tetroe JM, Graham ID, Foy R, et al. Health research funding agencies' support and promotion of knowledge translation: an international study. Milbank Q. 2008;86 (1):125-155.
2. Dobbins M, Thomas H, O'Brien M-A, Duggan M. Use of systematic reviews in the development of new provincial public health policies in Ontario. Int J Technol Assess Health Care. 2004;20(4):399-404.
3. Lavis J, Davies H, Oxman A, Denis J-L, Golden-Biddle K, Ferlie E. Towards systematic reviews that inform health care management and policy-making. J Health Serv Res Policy. 2005;10(suppl 1):35-48.
4. Jackson N, Waters E, The Guidelines for Systematic Reviews of Health Promotion and Public Health Interventions Taskforce. The challenges of systematically reviewing public health interventions. J Public Health (Oxf). 2004;26(3):303-307.
5. Shepperd S, Lewin S, Straus S, et al. Can we systematically review studies that evaluate complex interventions? PLoS Med. 2009;6(8):e1000086.
6. Thomson H, Thomas S, Sellstrom E, Petticrew M. Housing improvements for health and associated socioeconomic outcomes. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013; (2):CD008657.
7. Thomson H, Petticrew M. Assessing the health and social effects on residents following housing improvement: a protocol for a systematic review of intervention studies. International Campbell Collaboration approved protocol. Available at: http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/lib/project/61. Accessed May 15, 2013.
8. Gibson M, Thomson H, Banas K, Bambra C, Fenton C, Bond L. Welfare to work interventions and their effects on health and well-being of lone parents and their children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012;(5): CD009820.
9. Sheldon TA. Making evidence synthesis more useful for management and policy-making. J Health Serv Res Policy. 2005;10(suppl 1):1-5.
10. LaRocca R, Yost J, Dobbins M, Ciliska D, Butt M. The effectiveness of knowledge translation strategies used in public health: a systematic review. BMC Public Health. 2012;12(1):751.
11. Lavis JN, Posada FB, Haines PA, Osei E. Use of research to inform public policymaking. Lancet. 2004;364(9445):1615-1621.
12. Gilbert R, Salanti G, Harden M, See S. Infant sleeping position and the sudden infant death syndrome: systematic review of observational studies and historical review of recommendations from 1940 to 2002. Int J Epidemiol. 2005;34(4):874-887.
13. Petticrew M. Why certain systematic reviews reach uncertain conclusions. BMJ. 2003;326(7392):756-758.
14. Craig P, Dieppe P, Macintyre S, Michie S, Nazareth I, Petticrew M. Developing and evaluating complex interventions: the new Medical Research Council guidance. BMJ. 2008;337:a1655.
15. Craig P, Dieppe P, Macintyre S, Michie S, Nazareth I, Petticrew M. Developing and evaluating complex interventions. London, UK: Medical Research Council; 2008. Available at: http://www.sphsu.mrc.ac.uk/Complex-interventions- guidance.pdf. Accessed August 30, 2012.
16. Anderson LM, Petticrew M, Rehfuess E, et al. Using logic models to capture complexity in systematic reviews. Res Synthesis Methods. 2011;2(1):33-42.
17. McCartney G, Thomas S, Thomson H, et al. The health and socioeconomic impacts of major multi-sport events: systematic review (1978-2008). BMJ. 2010;340: c2369.
18. Lorenc T, Clayton S, Neary D, et al. Crime, fear of crime, environment, and mental health and well-being: mapping review of theories and causal pathways. Health Place. 2012;18(4):757-765.
19. Cochrane Public Health Group. Guide for developing a Cochrane protocol. Available at: http://ph. cochrane.org/sites/ph.cochrane.org/files/uploads/Guide %20for%20PH%20protocol-Nov%202011-final% 20for%20website.pdf. Accessed August 30, 2012
20. Tugwell P, Petticrew M, Robinson V, Kristjansson E, Maxwell L; Cochrane Equity Field Editorial Team. Cochrane and Campbell Collaborations, and health equity. Lancet. 2006;367(9517):1128-1130.
21. Greenhalgh T, Kristjansson E, Robinson V. Realist review to understand the efficacy of school feeding programmes. BMJ. 2007;335(7625):858-861.
22. Thomson H, Atkinson R, Petticrew M, Kearns A. Do urban regeneration programmes improve public health and reduce health inequalities? A synthesis of the evidence from UK policy and practice (1980-2004). J Epidemiol Community Health. 2006;60(2):108-15.
23. How systematic reviews can disappoint. Bandolier. 2001. Available at: http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band93/b93-6.html. Accessed August 30, 2012.
24. Pawson R, Wong G, Owen L. Known knowns, known unknowns, unknown unknowns. Am J Eval. 2011;32(4):518-546.
25. Petticrew M. When are complex interventions "complex"? When are simple interventions "simple"? Eur J Public Health. 2011;21(4):397-398.
26. Sandelowski M, Voils CI, Leeman J, Crandell JL. Mapping the mixed methods-Mixed Research Synthesis Terrain. J Mix Methods Res. 2012;6(4):317-331.
27. Cook TD, Campbell DT. Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis for Field Settings. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company; 1979.
28. Campbell DT. Relabeling internal and external validity for applied social scientists. New Dir Progr Eval. 1986;1986(31):67-77.
29. Hawe P, Shiell A, Riley T. Complex interventions: how "out of control" can a randomised controlled trial be? BMJ. 2004;328(7455):1561- 1563.
30. Lipsey MW. What can you build with thousands of bricks? Musings on the cumulation of knowledge in program evaluation. New Dir Eval. 1997;1997(76):7-23.
31. Pawson R. Evidence-based policy: the promise of 'realist synthesis'. Evaluation. 2002;8(3):340-358.
32. Gough D, Thomas J, Oliver S. Clarifying differences between review designs and methods. Syst Rev. 2012;1(1):28.
33. Petticrew M, Roberts H. Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide. Oxford, UK: Blackwell; 2006.
34. Black N. Evidence based policy: proceed with care. BMJ. 2001;323(7307):275-279.
35. Rees R, Oliver S. Stakeholder perspectives and participation in reviews. In: Gough D, Oliver S, Thomas J, eds. An Introduction to Systematic Reviews. London: Sage; 2012:17-34.
36. Green S, Higgins J, eds. Preparing a Cochrane review. In: Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, Version 5.1.0. Available at: http://www.cochrane-handbook.org. Accessed August 30, 2012.
37. Koonerup M, Sowden A. User involvement in the systematic review process. Available at: http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/artman2/uploads/1/ Involvement-in-review-process.pdf. Accessed August 30, 2012.
38. Institute of Medicine US Committee on Standards for Systematic Reviews of Comparative Effectiveness Research. Finding What Works in Health Care: Standards for Systematic Reviews. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. 2011.
39. Petticrew M. Systematic reviews from astronomy to zoology: myths and misconceptions. BMJ. 2001;322 (7278):98-101.
40. Egan M, MacLean A, Sweeting H, Hunt K. Comparing the effectiveness of using generic and specific search terms in electronic databases to identify health outcomes for a systematic review: a prospective comparative study of literature search methods. BMJ Open. 2012;2(3):e001043.
41. Ogilvie D, Hamilton V, Egan M, Petticrew M. Systematic reviews of health effects of social interventions: 1. Finding the evidence: how far should you go? J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005;59(9):804-808.
42. Reeves BC, Deeks JJ, Higgins JP, Wells GA; on behalf of the Cochrane Non-Randomised Studies Methods Group. Assessing risk of bias in non-randomized studies (Section 13.5). In: Higgins J, Green S, eds. Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Version 5.1.0. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; 2011:412-418.
43. Effective Public Health Practice Project. Quality assessment tool for quantitative studies. Available at: http://www.ephpp.ca/PDF/ Quality%20Assessment% 20Tool-2010-2.pdf. Accessed January 15, 2013.
44. Dixon-Woods M, Shaw RL, Agarwal S, Smith JA. The problem of appraising qualitative research. Qual Saf Health Care. 2004;13(3):223-225.
45. Noyes J, Popay J, Pearson A, Hannes K, Booth A; on behalf of the Cochrane Qualitative Research Methods Group. Qualitative research and Cochrane reviews. In: Higgins J, Green S, eds. Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Version 5.1.0. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; 2011:571-592.
46. Popay J, Roberts H, Sowden A, et al. Guidance on the conduct of narrative synthesis in systematic reviews: a product of the ESRC methods programme (version I). Lancaster, UK: Institute of Health Research; 2006. Available at: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/shm/research/nssr/research/dissemination/publications. php. Accessed May 15, 2013.
47. Thomson H, Thomas S. The effect direction plot: visual display of non-standardised effects across multiple outcome domains. Res Synthesis Methods. 2013;4(1):95-101.
48. Pettman TL, Hall BJ, Waters E, de Silva-Sanigorski A, Armstrong R, Doyle J. Communicating with decisionmakers through evidence reviews. J Public Health (Oxf). 2011;33(4):630-633.
49. Abrami PC, Borokhovski E, Bernard RM, et al. Issues in conducting and disseminating brief reviews of evidence. Evid Policy: J Res Debate Pract. 2010;6(3): 371-389.
50. Brunton G, Stansfield C, Thomas J. Finding relevant studies. In: Gough D, Oliver S, Thomas J, eds. An Introduction to Systematic Reviews. London, UK: Sage; 2012:107-134.
51. Thomson H, Atkinson R, Petticrew M, Kearns A. Do urban regeneration programmes improve public health and reduce health inequalities? A synthesis of the evidence from UK policy and practice (1980-2004). J Epidemiol Community Health. 2006;60(2):108-115.
52. Buston K, Parkes A, Thomson H, Wight D, Fenton C. Parenting interventions for male young offenders: a review of evidence on what works. J Adolesc. 2012;35 (3):731-742.
53. Ganann R, Ciliska D, Thomas H. Expediting systematic reviews: methods and implications of rapid reviews. Implement Sci. 2010;5(1):56.
54. Lehoux P, Tailliez S, Denis J-L, Hivon M. Redefining health technology assessment in Canada: diversification of products and contextualization of findings. Int J Technol Assess Health Care. 2004;20(3):325-336.