ProjectsNIHR Policy Reviews FacilityWork in progressNewsletterHP&PH Newsletter Issue 4
RECENT RESEARCH FINDINGS

Accidental injury and young people

In industrialised countries such as England and Wales, unintended injury (which ranges from sprains in sport to hospitalisation and death due to drugs or transport crashes) is the leading cause of death in children aged 0 to 14 years, and a major cause of death in young adults aged 15 to 24. It is also a major cause of ill health and disability in these age groups. There is a large body of research on young people and their perceived propensity to take risks. Common sense suggests that an increased willingness to place oneself at risk will result an increased likelihood of physical injury. However, given that pathways to injury are complex and not always well understood, the UK Department of Health commissioned a large systematic review to examine this multifaceted issue.

For further details of the review, see our website: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=1910

‘Life checks’ for young people

‘Life checks’ are emotional and physical health check ups followed by feedback, advice and support. They have been suggested as one way to help people maintain and improve their health. Our recent scoping review has examined the size and scope of the evidence relevant to life checks for young people. We identified 70 relevant studies from 13 different countries around the world.

For further details of the review, see our website: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=1849

  
OTHER ONGOING RESEARCH

Inequalities, and the health of children and young people

Health inequalities are a concern nationally and internationally. Where people live, their ethnicity, occupation, gender, region, socio-economic status and social capital all influence their health. Researchers at the EPPI Centre are conducting a three-part study into how health inequalities in children and young people are addressed within the field of health promotion research. Stage one has produced a systematic map, describing health promotion related inequalities research; stage two has produced a conceptual analysis of how inequalities are measured in research studies, and how research participants and users are included in the research process. Stage three is a systematic review of secondary school-based mental health promotion programme. This review will consider whether such interventions increase or decrease existing inequalities in the burden of depression and suicide amongst young people. All three stages will be published in one report later this year.

Diversity in health promotion research with children and young people: a methodological review

There are important scientific and ethical reasons to ensure that research in health promotion and public health (HP&PH) reflects the diverse and multicultural nature of our society. The research and governance framework from the English Department of Health (DH) requires that research should “Whenever relevant…take into account age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race, culture and religion in its design, undertaking and reporting” (DH, 2005, p 8). This methodological review aims to examine the ways in which HP&PH research with children and young people attends to diversity and will make recommendations for good practice.

  
RESEARCH RESOURCES

Health promotion topics appear in the top ten accessed reviews in the Cochrane Library

A new report will shortly be made available from John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Publisher of The Cochrane Library.  To be made available annually, it will list the top full text accessed reviews on the Cochrane Library and includes a ranking by individual country.  Essentially it is a snapshot of global usage taken from one key point of access to Cochrane reviews. By way of a sample look at this data, the world top 10 are listed below.

  1. LD Gillespie, WJ Gillespie, MC Robertson, SE Lamb, RG Cumming, BH Rowe - Interventions for preventing falls in elderly people
  2. CD Summerbell, E Waters, LD Edmunds, S Kelly, T Brown, KJ Campbell - Interventions for preventing obesity in children
  3. PC Gøtzsche, M Nielsen - Screening for breast cancer with mammography
  4. TE Towheed, L Maxwell, TP Anastassiades, B Shea, J Houpt, V Robinson, MC Hochberg, G Wells - Glucosamine therapy for treating osteoarthritis
  5. RB Haynes, X Yao, A Degani, S Kripalani, A Garg, HP McDonald - Interventions for enhancing medication adherence
  6. JA Hayden, MW van Tulder, A Malmivaara, BW Koes - Exercise therapy for treatment of non-specific low back pain
  7. N Cullum, E McInnes, SEM Bell-Syer, R Legood - Support surfaces for pressure ulcer prevention
  8. C Silagy, T Lancaster, L Stead, D Mant, G Fowler - Nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation
  9. S Green, R Buchbinder, S Hetrick - Physiotherapy interventions for shoulder pain
  10. PP Glasziou, CB Del Mar, SL Sanders, M Hayem - Antibiotics for acute otitis media in children

Further information will be provided when the full report is accessible.  In the meantime, to search for reviews in the Health Promotion and Public Health Field, go to http://www.thecochranelibrary.com

  
EVENTS

Introduction to systematic reviewing - a one day workshop

How can we translate evidence for policy and practice?
This workshop will introduce the principles, methods and critiques of systematic reviews.

Date and Venue

9.30 – 5.30pm Friday 27 July 2007
ESRC Regional Training Centre, Glamorgan Building, Cardiff University
King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff

For more information, or to enrol in this workshop, see our website: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=830

MSc in Evidence for Public Policy and Practice

A new MSc in Evidence for Public Policy and Practice in now available from the EPPI Centre. This programme has been designed for graduates and policy-makers, practitioners, managers and researchers wanting to become more skilled in systematic reviewing, with a critical understanding of the relationships between research evidence and public, policy and practice decisions. The course will equip students with conceptual and practical skills for conducting and appraising systematic reviews and evaluating the potential for the use of research evidence for policy and practice. Students will study theory, empirical research, and practical examples of a broad range of approaches to synthesis, models of research use, research questions, study types and types of data.

For more information about this and other courses run by the EPPI Centre, see our website: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=168

  
About the EPPI Centre

The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI Centre) is part of the Social Science Research Unit (SSRU) at the Institute of Education, University of London. The focus of the EPPI Centre’s work is on promoting systematic reviews of research evidence, on developing methods and tools for systematic appraisal of different research questions and different kinds of research studies, and on facilitating user involvement throughout the review and dissemination process.

 

The EPPI Centre currently works in the areas of health promotion and public health, education and social care. Some reviews and methodological developments are undertaken by EPPI Centre staff. Others are done collaboratively with external organisations and individuals. The EPPI Centre is also contributing to the Economic and Social Research Council's National Centre for Research Methods, and is the home of the Methods for Research Synthesis programme.

  
RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Fracture: Adventures of a broken body

A new book, Fracture: Adventures of a broken body, by Ann Oakley, looks at concepts of the body, illness and personal identity. Using a personal injury as a starting point, it explores how bodies are experienced over the life-cycle and at some of the consequences of professional intervention.

For further information about this book, see the publisher's website.

Young people and physical activity

Rees R, Kavanagh J, Harden A, Shepherd J, Brunton G, Oliver S, Oakley A (2006) Young people and physical activity: a systematic review matching their views to effective interventions. Health Education Research. 21(6):806-825.

To view the abstract of this paper, go the the Health Education Research website.

Young people and healthy eating

Shepherd J, Harden A, Rees R, Brunton G, Garcia J, Oliver S, Oakley A (2006) Young people and healthy eating: a systematic review of research on barriers and facilitators. Health Education Research 21: 239-257.

To view the full text of this paper, go the the Health Education Research website.

Cochrane Health Promotion and Public Health Field newsletter

If you have not already read the latest Cochrane HP&PH Field newsletter (March 2007), we highly recommend it as a means of finding out all the latest Cochrane developments relevent to us, such as further detail on the transition from Cochrane Field to Collaborative Review Group.

  
Subscription options

If you would like to be alerted about new issues of this newsletter, please send an email with "subscribe" in the subject line to: eppi.healthnewsletter@ioe.ac.uk. Please state in the message whether you would prefer to receive the e-mails in HTML or plain text format.

To stop receiving alerts, please send an email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line to: eppi.healthnewsletter@ioe.ac.uk.

  
WORKING WITH US

School-based mental health promotion interventions - help us identify research

If you know of any published evaluations of secondary school-based mental health promotion interventions we would be very grateful if you could let us have references to them so that we can consider them for inclusion in our current systematic review. Please forward to j.kavanagh@ioe.ac.uk or to j.gray@ioe.ac.uk

Participating in and using reviews - get involved

The EPPI Centre co-directs the Cochrane Health Promotion and Public Health field with colleagues in Australia. This group promotes the conduct, dissemination and use of systematic reviews of research in health promotion and public health as part of the world-wide Cochrane Collaboration.

  
Funders

The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI Centre) receives funding from the Department of Health (England) for a specific programme of work in health promotion and public health.

This free email newsletter is produced by EPPI Centre to disseminate information about its work in the field of Health Promotion and Public Health.

The EPPI Centre is the Methods for Research Synthesis programme of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. The centre receives funding from a number of other agencies including the Department for Education and Skills, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Social Care Institute of Excellence. The EPPI Centre is a formal partner of the Campbell Collaboration and co-directs the Cochrane Health Promotion and Public Health Field.

Further details of work in Health Promotion and the rest of the EPPI Centre's work on Education and Perspectives and Participation can be found here. For more information about the Methods for Research Synthesis programme, click here.

The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI Centre) is part of the Social Science Research Unit (SSRU), Institute of Education, University of London.

Further details of SSRU's work can be found here.

  
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