Involving the public in systematic reviews: What does the evidence tell us?

2012 Conference

Abstract:
Systematic reviews are important documents that summarise the evidence on the effectiveness of health care interventions. The public should be actively involved in the systematic review process. We searched the literature to find examples of public involvement in the systematic review process. This paper describes how the public were involved in the seven systematic reviews that we identified through our literature search.

The public were found to be involved in all stages of the review process including refining the scope of the review; suggesting and locating relevant literature; appraising the literature; interpreting review findings; and writing up the review. The public were involved in different ways including consultation workshops, membership of review advisory groups, membership of the review team, email discussion lists, and the Delphi process (a method to achieve consensus). We found one review that was led by service users with personal experience of the review topic. This paper provides important evidence for commissioners of systematic reviews that the public can make substantial contributions to key stages of the review process. We will discuss the concerns that researchers have raised about public involvement in the review process, as well as the good practice recommendations that have been put forward.

This work was undertaken with the involvement of the following two co-authors: Wendy Baird, Director, NIHR Research Design Service for Yorkshire and the Humber Anthea Sutton, Information Specialist, University of Sheffield.

Involving the public in systematic reviews: What does the evidence tell us?