This online course, organised by Cochrane Australia, is aimed at authors of systematic reviews of intervention effectiveness who wish to follow Cochrane methods. The course provides a comprehensive overview of the methods required to write a protocol and get started on a review. The course is suitable for people with little or no experience in systematic reviews who have identified a review question.
Outline
- Session 1 (Wed 27 April) Different types of reviews, studies and questions; writing the protocol; defining the review question and setting the eligibility criteria.
- Session 2 (Wed 4 May) Searching and selecting studies; using Covidence for screening; risk of bias assessment (critical appraisal) of included studies.
- Session 3 (Wed 11 May) Assessing the risk of bias of a randomised trial using Cochrane RoB 2; collecting data; common data types encountered in systematic reviews.
- Session 4 (Wed 18 May) Preparing for synthesis; introduction to meta-analysis; practical in how to use RevMan; heterogeneity.
- Session 5 (Wed 25 May) Introduction to network meta-analysis; synthesising results when meta-analysis is not possible.
- Session 6 (Wed 1 June) Assessing reporting bias; assessing the certainty of the evidence; applying GRADE and using GRADEPro.
Electronic copies of the slides are provided ahead of time and sessions are recorded. Participants require access to the Review Manager software (free to download) for the practical RevMan session.