What Can We Learn from Synthesising Primary Research: A Role for Cochrane Reviews of Public Health Interventions to Advance Evidence-Based Policy

The Cochrane Public Health Group (CPHG) was registered with the international Cochrane Collaboration in 2008, with a mandate to produce systematic reviews of interventions that seek to address 'upstream' social and environmental determinants of health. This filled a gap in the existing coverage of (traditionally clinical-based) Cochrane review topics relevant to global health. We now have over 60 reviews and protocols published or under development in the CPHG.

CPHG authors, guided by the editorial team, have utilised methods to identify the ability of these interventions to reduce inequities, as well as pointers to potential ineffectiveness (and inequities) due to implementation or resource issues. Review authors are encouraged to: utilise context experts to inform the parameters of their reviews (review advisory groups); extract data that can help contextualise the implementation and effectiveness findings; and to consider dissemination channels and approaches at early stages of the review process, to ensure the findings will be of most use to decision-makers. CPHG reviews include more than randomised controlled trials and instead focus on the inclusion of study designs that answer important public health issues. These reviews include implications of the findings for practice, and very importantly, the implications for research, highlighting gaps in the research, where changes in study scope or design method could be improved to contribute further to the evidence base for the intervention/s under review.

This presentation will provide an overview of the reviews published and underway within the CPHG. We will highlight how we are supporting authors to include information beyond effectiveness, to enhance the utility of our reviews. In particular we will highlight the importance of including contextual information (e.g. skill of program staff, costs, infrastructure) to help explain intervention outcomes. We will also discuss the importance of effectiveness reviews in advocating for this information to be included in the primary studies. We will also discuss dissemination strategies, designed to get the findings of our reviews out to the relevant stakeholders, in formats that work for them.  Attendees will also be informed of how they can contribute to the objectives of the CPHG.