Evidence-Based Public Health Practice: Using Research and Data to Improve Your Programs Week 2, Part 1: Step 3 of 6--Use the research literature to guide program development Helena VonVille Library Director University of Texas School of Public Health This project has been funded in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine National lnstitutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No NO1-LM

Week 2, Part 1: Use the research Types of research literature Access to the research literature Evaluation of the literature

Step 3: Use the Research Types of resources available ◦ Research syntheses  Systematic reviews & meta-analyses ◦ Guidelines & Best Practices ◦ Original research literature ◦ Other  Conference proceedings How much time do you have?

Sources of Research: Systematic Reviews Systematic Reviews Systematic Reviews What is a systematic review? ◦ SRs use scientific methodology to evaluate interventions  Prevention, treatment and rehabilitation  Replicable  Include aims  Often use PICO to frame questionPICO  May include meta-analyses

Cochrane Reviews EPPI-Centre: ◦ Search for Health Promotion Reviews Search for Health Promotion Reviews Evidence Reports (AHRQ) Evidence Reports Campbell Collaboration ◦ Education, crime and justice, and social welfare TheCommunityGuide.org Sources of Research: Systematic Reviews Systematic Reviews Systematic Reviews

Sources of Research: Guidelines & Best Practices Guidelines & Best Practices Guidelines & Best Practices Using What Works (NCI) Using What Works Evaluated & vetted research ◦ Clinical Practice Guidelines (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) Clinical Practice Guidelines (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)  National Guideline Clearinghouse National Guideline Clearinghouse ◦ Promising Practices Network Promising Practices Network

Sources of Research: Original Research Literature Journal literature ◦ Not always research based!  Professional magazines ◦ Can be a good way to find solutions that address your needs ◦ Journals not always readily available

Access the Research: Original Research Literature Access to full text articles ◦ Through TexShare databases ◦ Through open access journals ◦ Through DSHS Medical and Research Library  Contact them for eligibility 

Access the Research: Original Research Literature TexShare Databases ◦ Available through local public library ◦ Excellent FT access to journals ◦ No cost to you ◦ Proxy server used for remote access  IT may block for security reasons

Sources of Research: Original Research Literature Favorite databases ◦ Academic Search Complete (articles) ◦ Medline (abstracts) ◦ Health Source: Nursing & Consumer (articles) ◦ NetLibrary (e-books) What is available? ◦ Houston Public Library databases Houston Public Library databases

Terms to help you search ◦ Intervention-type terms: ◦ "health education" or "health promotion" or "health attitude*” or "health behavior*" or "health program*“ or “health knowledge” or intervention* ◦ Combine with your topic ◦ Add in your population!

Evaluation of the Research Literature Who is/are the author/s? ◦ Researchers? Practitioners? ◦ Do they report conflicts of interest or funding sources? What kind of an article is it? ◦ Research? How I done good? Case report? What are the questions being asked?

Evaluation of the Research Literature Is the research theory based? ◦ Did they use an appropriate theory? Did they use an appropriate methodology and did they use it correctly? Do they report their statistical findings? ◦ Are their calculations correct? Is it generalizable to your population? ◦ Was their population similar to yours?

How to Read a paper: BMJ series T. Greenhalgh, BMJ Deciding what the paper is about ◦ Assessing the methodology ◦ Statistics for non-statisticians, Pt. 1 ◦ Statistics for non-statisticians, Pt. 2 ◦

How to Read a paper: BMJ series T. Greenhalgh, BMJ Drug trials ◦ Diagnostic or screening tests ◦ Economic analyses ◦ Systematic Reviews & Meta-analyses ◦ Qualitative : ◦

Questions?