Ngā arotake ā-pūnaha mō te hauora tūmatanui
Wednesday 13 February 2019
In this one day course you will learn about what makes public health systematic reviews special. Using examples from gold standard public health systematic reviews we will discuss the necessary elements to summarize evidence. We will also discuss how to recognise and avoid the common pitfalls that can derail systematic reviews summarizing evidence in a public health setting. Whether you ever need to do rapid reviews (in a matter of days), or more detailed ones taking weeks to months, this course will help. And if you don’t ever do such reviews – but need to consider such work by others, it will help improve your critical thinking and assessment of others work in this area.
Topics covered
- How do these reviews differ from standard systematic reviews using randomised controlled trials (eg, what other types of studies can be included)
- How to do a review rapidly – if you only have a few days
- How to conduct a more detailed review – if you have weeks to months
- Selected case studies of different types of systematic reviews in public health and specific issues arising
- (But for an introduction to literature reviews and doing meta-analyses – please see the course on the previous day to this one)
Style of course
Teaching and discussion in a group of up to 25 people
Who should attend?
Those wanting to better understand the issues around conducting and interpreting systematic reviews assessing public health evidence.
Draft timetable
| Time | Session | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30am | Registration | |
| 9:00am | What is a systematic review (and meta-analysis)? An introduction to systematic reviews and their implications for public health policy decisions. | Dr Andrew Anglemyer/Dr Vanessa Jordan |
| 10:30am | Morning tea | |
| 11:00am | Collecting Evidence: From study selection to data extraction–what types to include and how to find it | Dr Vanessa Jordan |
| 11:45pm | Summarising Evidence: Assessing the risk of bias in various study designs | Dr Vanessa Jordan |
| 12:30pm | Lunch break | |
| 1:30pm | Summarising Evidence: from narrative reviews to meta-analysis. | Dr Andrew Anglemyer |
| 2:30pm | Evaluating Evidence: heterogeneity and how to handle it in your analysis. | Dr Andrew Anglemyer |
| 3:00pm | Afternoon tea | |
| 3:30pm | Evaluating Evidence: using GRADE to assess the quality of evidence. | Dr Vanessa Jordan |
| 4:15pm | Common pitfalls to avoid in systematic reviews | Dr Andrew Anglemyer/Dr Vanessa Jordan |
| 4:40pm | Selected case studies of systematic reviews in public health | Dr Andrew Anglemyer/Dr Vanessa Jordan |
| 5:00pm | Finish |
Teaching staff
- Dr Vanessa Jordan (University of Auckland)
Vanessa is the New Zealand Cochrane Fellow and a senior research fellow/ lecturer at the University of Auckland. She is a methodologist specialising in systematic reviews and is a member of the Cochrane training network as well as Cochrane methodological and statistical groups. - Dr Andrew Anglemyer (University of Otago/Naval Postgraduate School)
Andy is senior research fellow at University of Otago and an Assistant Professor at Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. He has worked as a contributor, methodologist, and editor with various Cochrane groups since 2009.
Course cost and registration
$300 early bird, $400 after 20 December 2018.
A 50% discount is available to full-time students, those unwaged and University of Otago staff.
