Evidence Centre Members Secure €6,250 ‘Studies Within A Review’ (SWAR) Award for 2024/25

Members of the Evidence Centre have been awarded a €6,250 ‘Studies Within A Review’ (SWAR) Award for 2024/25 to evaluate the usability of unified appraisal tools in rapid reviews of intervention effects. This project, titled "Evaluating the usability of unified appraisal tools within rapid reviews of intervention effects: A study within a review", is supported by Evidence Synthesis Ireland (ESI) and Cochrane Ireland.

The study team includes Deborah Edwards, Ruth Lewis, Emily Clark, Gillian Prue, Juliet Hounsome, Judit Csontos, Liz Gillen and Sarag Neil-Sztramko. They will collaborate with researchers from the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools at McMaster University, Canada , and Queen’s University, Belfast.

This research aims to enhance rapid review methodologies, addressing inconsistencies in the critical appraisal of methodological quality in rapid reviews. Current practices vary significantly, ranging from using a single reviewer, a reviewer with a verifier, or even omitting appraisal entirely, to employing two or more independent reviewers for a more rigorous assessment. Conducting critical appraisals can take up to 40 minutes per study, adding considerable time to the review process.

The team will investigate critical appraisal tools applicable across various comparative study designs. The goal is to determine whether unified appraisal tools can streamline processes, improve efficiency, and reduce the time and resources required for rapid reviews. They will also assess whether unified tools are more efficient than design-specific tools in conducting critical appraisals for intervention effects and identify the most effective unified tool for this purpose.

Three rapid reviews conducted by the Evidence Centre will form the basis of this evaluation:
•    A rapid review of the effectiveness of remote consultations versus face-to-face consultations in secondary care surgical outpatient settings. [Read more]
•    A rapid review of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions aimed at making homes warmer and cheaper to heat for households in fuel poverty in rural and remote areas. [Read more]
•    A rapid review of the effectiveness of interventions designed to enhance equitable or overall access to mental health services for ethnic minority groups. [Read more]

The team presented a poster of this work at the recent Global Evidence Summit 2024 in Prague.

This study is supported by the Health Research Board (Ireland) and the HSC Public Health Agency (Grant number ESI-2021-001) through Evidence Synthesis Ireland/Cochrane Ireland.