Mixed Methods 3- Systematic Reviews

Question 1

What are the overall aim of a systematic review ?

Answer 1

• Overall aim of a systematic review is to locate, evaluate and summarise papers on a particular topic.
• Aim to produce unequivacal evidence it on a specific intervention.

Question 2

What are the advantages of a systematic review ?

Answer 2

• Saves practitioners time in conducting their own search of papers.
• It would be misleading to suggest that systematic reviews always provide the answer to a clinical problem: a collection of papers may fail to reveal definitive answers or do not meet the criteria.
• Failure of producing good evidence is not a failure of a systematic review it just highlights the need of more research.

Question 3

What are the uses of a systematic review ?

Answer 3

• Several reasons why systematic review should be done:
• Keep up to date with the latest research
• Determine whether new treatments are more effective than old ones.
• Whether existing treatment are harmful or not worth the cost of using them.
• They are transparent in their construction and content. They can be repeated by the same author if new studies are taken into account.

Question 4

What are quantitative systematic reviews ?

Answer 4

• Quantitative systematic review is the product of a specific type of research called secondary research.
• Following an EBP model, quantitative systematic reviews of clinical evidence only report on the results of RCT’s or cohort studies.
• Quantitative systematic reviews focus on the results of primary research found in research papers to find out what treatment is the best.
• Results are combines using meta-analysis.

Question 5

What are qualitative systematic reviews ?

Answer 5

• Qualitative systematic reviews adopt the same method but just on qualitative designs.
• Analysis of interviews, focus groups.
• Results are combined using meta-synthesis.

Question 6

What is the systematic review process ?

Answer 6

• Similar to EBP which is assess, ask, acquire, appraise and apply.
• Difference is that EBP finds existing best evidence that can be applies into practice, whereas the systematic review process tries to uncover new evidence.
• The evidence is reviewed- validity, reliability and lack of bias.

Question 7

What are the stages of a systematic review ?

Answer 7

• Constructing a focus clinical question
• Identify a search strategy
• Study selection criteria and procedures
• Assess the quality of the included paper
• Data extractions

Question 8

What does constructing a focus clinical question involve ?

Answer 8

• Arises from a practical problem

- The aim is to find all the papers that address a specific question and they need to be located.

Question 9

What does identifying a search strategy include ?

Answer 9

• The aim of this stage is to maximise the number of relevant papers for evaluation whilst filtering out the irrelevant ones as possible.
• Grey literature: Literature not published in conventional journals and books.
• If all the literature is not included in a study the research conclusion can be incorrect.

Question 10

What does a study selection criteria and procedures involve ?

Answer 10

• The type of participants need to be specified so that only papers that have researched this group would be included.
• PICO needs to be specified.
• PRISMA- preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis provides a framework for filtering included and excluded papers.

Question 11

How is the quality of the included paper assesed?

Answer 11

• No findings establishes no evidence
• Also provides the justification that research is needed in this topic- support the case for grant funding.
• CAT- critical appraisal tool: needed for reviewing papers. It assesses whether it conforms to accepted current standards.

Question 12

What does data extraction include ?

Answer 12

• Main element contained in each paper needs to be pulled out or extracted, so all the essential details from each study be placed in one form.

Question 13

What is a meta-analysis ?

Answer 13

• Combining all the data from these papers that have different conclusions and making one large study.
• The data is then statistically analysed to see if the finding yield is a clearer result
• This improves the estimation of how effective treatment is.