The Literature Survey

Dr Bob PattonNovember 2015

The HCPC standard

By the end of your training you will be able to...

... be able to identify, review and critically appraise a substantial body of research evidence relevant to clinical psychology practice

Learning Outcomes

• To be able to clarify a suitable question for a literature search and to operationalize the question in an appropriate search strategy

• To be able to systematically search relevant databases and keep accurate records of those searches

• To be able to identify, review, and clearly describe a substantial body of empirical evidence relevant to clinical psychology practice

• To be able to report the findings of a detailed and systematic survey of a literature in a clear, methodical and professional way

What’s the point?

The Literature Survey:

• 4000 word limit• Title• Abstract (structured)• Introduction• Method• Results• Discussion

What is the effect of therapy on Mental Illness?

Focused questions

To generate a specific question – identify the key components - PICO.

• Population/participants/patients• Intervention/exposure• Comparison group• Outcomes of interest

ExerciseIdentify the key components of the following review questions:

1. Stage-based interventions for smoking cessation among adolescents

2. Psychosocial interventions for prevention and treatment of childhood obesity

3. Determinants of mammography screening uptake.

Do not try to reinvent the wheel

Comprehensive searching

• Why does your research need to be comprehensive?

• What kinds of bias might we introduce?• Publication type (need to include journals,

conference, dissertations, grey, ongoing)• Search media (electronic, manual, personal)• Languages, countries

Search strategy

Break the question down into its component parts

• Patient group• Intervention• Comparison• Outcome

Think about limits (date of introduction of drug? Study design?)

Developing search terms from your question.

• Identify and record synonyms, abbreviations, related terms.

• Remember transatlantic differences (e.g. learning disability/mental retardation)

Decide upon the limits of your review

• Publication– Peer reviewed articles? English language?

Published after 2000?• Study

– E.g. sample size, follow-up time, type of outcome measure used.

• Quality of evidence– Hierarchy of evidence in terms of study design.

Systematic Review

RCT

Cohort Studies

Case-Control Studies

Case Reports

Cross Sectional Surveys

Expert Opinion

Anecdotal

Experimental Study

Observational Studies

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http://apps.webofknowledge.com/

Web of Science

http://apps.webofknowledge.com/

Recording a search strategy

• Make up your search term table• Combine search terms for each column – OR• Combine column results - AND

Too much information?

Evaluation

Study Participants Intervention Results Conclusion / Comment

Study, 003

N Randomised: 290 (I=150, C=140)

Age: m=43.

Gender: 30% female

Type: UK Community (Patient)

Recruitment: Non-smoking related attendance at GP surgery

I: 3 x 30 min weekly stage-based, group MI with take-home intervention pack.

C: GP advice

Provider: Practice Nurse

Setting: GP Surgery

Follow-up: 2 months

Outcome: Abstinence (3 wks), self-report questionnaire

Author:

Dropout: 82 (I=53, C=29)

N Analysed: 208 (I=97, C=111)

Abstinence: 31 (I=19, C=12) (p<0.05)

Reviewer analysis

ITT OR=1.54 (95% CI, 0.63 to 4.29)

Author: Brief, stage-based MI with take-home material is an effective smoking cessation intervention.

Reviewer: High attrition (I, OR = 2.09) and ns difference with ITT analysis. Participant inclusion criteria and method of randomisation unknown.Tailoring unclear, re: group-level MI.Authors’ conclusions are inconsistent with data.

http://www.sign.ac.uk/methodology/checklists.html

PRISMA – Be methodical

• PRISMA stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. It is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

• The aim of the PRISMA Statement is to help authors improve the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

• The PRISMA Statement consists of a 27-item checklist and a four-phase flow diagram.

Worked examples