Background
This pilot study, led by Queen’s University Belfast, is exploring midwifery students’ use of evidence resources and their experience of extracting evidence from current Cochrane midwifery review summaries.
Aim
The aim is to explore pre- and post- registration midwifery students’ use of evidence resources and to see what data midwives extract accurately from different summary evidence formats.
Primary Objectives:
- To establish whether the abstract or the plain language summary of a Cochrane Review is a better aid for midwifery students in identifying both the direction and quality of evidence in the review.
- To establish whether inclusion of conclusions versus no conclusions in the abstract or the plain language summary of a Cochrane Review is a better aid for midwifery students in identifying both the direction and quality of evidence.
- To determine if there is an interaction between the type of summary, and the presence or absence of conclusions.
Method
The study involves a mixed methods approach: a short survey with RCT component and focus groups. Primary outcome is the proportion of students who agree with the expert panel’s ‘appropriate’ response identified through the validation exercise. Bournemouth University is one of six centres collecting data for this study.
BU researchers
Vanora Hundley
Susan Way
Primary project team
Fiona Alderdice, Queens University, Belfast – Primary Investigator
Jenny McNeill, Queens University, Belfast
Mike Clarke, Queens University, Belfast
Toby Lasserson, Cochrane Editorial Unit, London
Elaine Beller Bond University, Queensland, Australia
Publication
Alderdice et al. 2016. Do Cochrane summaries help student midwives understand the findings of Cochrane systematic reviews: the BRIEF randomised trial. http://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-016-0214-8