Encouraging walking and cycling

There is widespread concern about the decrease in physical activity and the increase in obesity and chronic diseases in the UK, especially among children and young people. There is also considerable interest in the social and environmental benefits of a shift away from car travel to non-motorised forms of transport, such as walking and cycling. Walking and cycling provides people with the opportunity to build physical activity into their daily lives. This systematic review brings together the relevant research literature to examine children’s, young people’s and parent’s views about what helps and hinders them in walking and cycling to school, and combines these with the results of a recent systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions to promote a shift from car travel to more active forms of transport.

For further details of the review, see http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=942

Young people, pregnancy and social exclusion

There is widespread policy concern with high rates of unintended teenage pregnancy in the UK, the highest in Western Europe. Social disadvantage and teenage pregnancy are strongly related. This review systematically examines research relating to policy initiatives aimed at tackling the social exclusion associated with unintended teenage pregnancy and young parenthood. Two separate reviews of evidence were conducted: a review of evidence relating to the prevention of unintended pregnancy; and a review of the research evidence relating to the support of teenage parents.

For further details of the review, see http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=674

Incentive schemes to encourage young people's positive behaviour

There is considerable and growing, interest in the possibility that providing direct incentives of one kind or another can encourage healthy behaviours. This systematic review brings together the relevant research literature to examine the impact of single or dual component incentives schemes in encouraging positive health and other social behaviours in young people aged 11-19. It also examines ongoing incentive-based schemes.

For further details of the review, see http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=671

RCTs for policy interventions

This project investigates the implications of the choice of study design when estimating the effect of policy interventions. This report is at peer review and will be published soon.

Accidental injury and young people

A large systematic review of primary research including three syntheses all addressing the relationship between accidental injury occurrence, risk taking behaviour and the social circumstances in which young people live. This report is at peer review and will be published soon.

Inequalities, and the health of children and young people

The aim of this review is to analyse existing health promotion and public health research in order to identify reliable evidence for health promotion approaches to reducing health inequalities among children and young people.

‘Life checks’ for young people

The scoping review will identify the nature and extent of the research evidence relevant to the effectiveness, acceptibility and uptake of 'life checks' for young people in and outside of school settings. This report is at peer review and will be published soon.

For more information about any of these reviews, or if you would like to be notified when a review is published, please contact us at eppi.healthnewsletter@ioe.ac.uk.

You can also find details of our current work in health promotion and public health on our website.

New 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

Encouraging the use of research in practice

The EPPI Centre recently held a seminar on encouraging the use of research in practice in health promotion and public health. The seminar included a presentation by Dr Philip Baker, Senior Epidemiologist, Queensland Health, Australia on the evaluation of Queensland’s Evidence-Based Health Promotion and Public Health workshops. These workshops were conducted for staff in the state’s population and community health workforce to help them gain knowledge and skills to find and use evidence to make decisions about their practice. Philip described how the workshops used Cochrane Health Promotion and Public Health Field materials and involved staff within the workforce as co-facilitators to increase capacity in training and support. The presentation also described the findings of a follow-up survey and opportunities identified for applying evidence-informed principles. The seminar will be used to develop educational materials in several EPPI Centre programmes.

Please e-mail us if you would like more information.

A new look for our research databases

We're making it easier to find research about health promotion and public health. The search interface for all EPPI Centre databases has recently been updated and some new searching functions have been added.

The EPPI Centre Health Promotion and Public Health research databases (Bibliomap, TRoPHI and DoPHER) are available to search from our website: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=185. All reports are systematically keyworded with generic keywords (e.g. country, health focus, population group and intervention characteristics), and reports added to DoPHER are also keyworded with terms concerning the quality of reviews. 

Methods for doing systematic reviews

Recent presentations given by members of the EPPI Centre Health Promotion and Public Health Reviews Facility include:

• Coren E, Kavanagh J, Bates S, Homewood J (2006) Improving systematic reviews in social welfare - the benefits of collaboration [poster presentation] At: Sixth Annual Campbell Collaboration Colloquium, Los Angeles, California, USA, 22-24 February 2006
• Harden A, Thomas J, Kavanagh J (2006) Doing systematic reviews for policy-makers: lessons from three systematic reviews [symposium] At: Sixth Annual Campbell Collaboration Colloquium, Los Angeles, California, USA, 22-24 February 2006.
• Thomas J (2006) Information systems for conducting systematic reviews: a case study [poster presentation]. At: Sixth Annual Campbell Collaboration Colloquium, Los Angeles, California, USA, 22-24 February 2006.
• Rees R, Kavanagh J (2006) Helping ensure review relevance – exploring the potential benefits and costs of multi-perspective review advisory groups [workshop]. At XIV Cochrane Colloquium, Dublin, 23-26 October 2006.
• Powell C, Kavanagh J (2006) Developments in handsearching – an international and health promotion and public health perspective [workshop]. At XIV Cochrane Colloquium, Dublin, 23-26 October 2006.

We regularly publish methodological research in peer-reviewed journals on topics such as integrating qualitative research with trials in reviews. A list of these publications is available from the EPPI Centre website: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=661

Inequalities, and the health of children and young people - help us identify research

A large body of evidence shows that poor living and working conditions impair health and shorten lives. Variations in these social, economic and environmental determinants of health lead to ‘health inequalities’ which are recognized to be a major and increasing problem in many countries. The aim of this review is to analyse existing health promotion and public health research in order to identify reliable evidence for health promotion approaches to reducing health inequalities among children and young people.

We would be interested to hear what topics you feel are most important in this area. Please e-mail us with your comments.

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.

Issue 3, November 2006

RECENT RESEARCH FINDINGS
Encouraging walking and cycling
Young people, pregnancy and social exclusion
Incentives for young people's positive behaviour

OTHER ONGOING RESEARCH
RCTs for policy interventions
Accidental injury and young people 
Inequalities and the health of children and young people
'Life checks' for young people

EVENTS
New MSc in Evidence for Public Policy and Practice
Encouraging the use of research in practice

RESEARCH RESOURCES
A new look for our research databases
Methods for doing systematic reviews

WORKING WITH US
Inequalities, and the health of children and young people - help us identify research
Participating in and using reviews - get involved

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.

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