Overviews of reviews

This is a recording of the Cochrane Canada Webinar with Denise Thomson, Michelle Foisy, and Lisa Hartling from the Cochrane Child Health Field, on what overviews of reviews are, what they aren’t, and how and when to do one.

The Cochrane Child Health Field has conducted about 30 overviews of reviews - syntheses of data from two or more Cochrane reviews on interventions for a particular condition - according to the guidance laid out in the Cochrane Handbook.  In this webinar, the process for conducting an overview is explained. Further topics of discussion include the strengths of overviews, and the differences in time, methods and scope between overviews, systematic reviews and network meta-analyses.

After using this resource, you should be able to...
  • Understand what is an overview of reviews and how it differs from a systematic review
  • Decide when an overview of reviews may be appropriate
  • Describe the steps in conducting an overview of reviews
  • Consider some key issues in planning an overview of reviews

Author information: 
Thomson, Denise; Foisy, Michelle; Hartling, Lisa
Acknowledgements: 

Cochrane Canada webinar series was produced with the support of Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Institute of Gender and Health, Institute of Health Services and Policy Research, Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health, Institute of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, and Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes. Blackboard Collaborate tool for producing webinars was provided by Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) / WHO Research Promotion and Development. Special thanks to Luis Gabriel Cuervo for converting the webinars to Youtube videos.