Systematic review by Cochrane Belgium

Target Group

PhD researchers, planning or interested in performing a high-quality (Cochrane) systematic review in the (near) future.

Level

All PhD students

Aim and Topic

Systematic reviews are key elements in evidence-based healthcare. These literature reviews answer clearly defined questions, with explicit methods to identify, select, critically appraise, analyze and report data. This systematic approach distinguishes high-quality systematic reviews from traditional, so-called narrative, reviews and low-quality systematic reviews.

Cochrane is an international non-profit organization that produces and disseminates trusted systematic reviews, and advocate for its use (www.cochrane.org). The focus of Cochrane is on systematic reviews of research in health care and health policy. The Cochrane methodology is considered the gold standard in systematic review development. Cochrane Belgium provides guidance and support to researchers interested in performing a systematic review.

This 3-day course focuses on systematic reviews of interventions. It will teach you all about the different steps to take to perform a high-quality, methodologically sound and reliable systematic review. This hands-on course consists of plenary sessions and workshops on:

Writing your review protocol
Searching for studies
Selecting studies and collecting data
Introduction to risk of bias of randomized controlled trials
Analyzing the data and meta-analysis
Interpreting the findings and GRADE

The course, taught by experienced review experts, is filled with workshops and exercises, thus preparing you to get started immediately on your own systematic review.
For more information, visit the Cochrane Belgium website (http://belgium.cochrane.org/en/) or contact the team at cochrane.belgium@gmail.com.

Programme

Day 1	Description
09.00 – 10.00	1. Introduction to the course and the Cochrane collaboration; what is a (Cochrane) Systematic review & how do you start?
10.00 – 10.30	2. Workshop formulating your question
10.30 - 10.50	Break
10.50 - 11.25	3. Writing the protocol for your systematic review:
11.25 - 12.05	4. Searching for studies
12.05 - 12.50	Lunch break
12.50 - 13.50	5. Workshop building your search strategy
13.50 - 14.00	6. Selecting studies
14.00 - 14.40	7. Workshop selecting studies
14.40 - 15.00	Break
15.00 - 15.30	8. Introduction to Cochrane Crowd
15.30 - 16.45	9. Workshop text, comparisons and data in RevMan
Day 2
09.00 - 10.00	1. Assessment risk of bias RCTs: RoB 2
10.00 - 10.55	2. Workshop assessment risk of bias (RoB2)
10.55 - 11.15	Coffee break
11.15 – 11.35	3. Collecting data
11.35 - 12.15	4. Workshop collecting data
12.15 – 13.00	Lunch break
13.00 - 14.30	5. Analyzing dichotomous and continuous data. Introducing meta-analysis
14.30 - 14.50	Break
14.50 - 16.30	6. Workshop meta-analysis
Day 3
9.00 - 10.30	1. Heterogeneity, publication bias
10.30 - 10.50	Break
10.45 - 12.00	2. Workshop heterogeneity
12.00 - 12.30	3. SWiM reporting guidelines: Synthesis Without Meta-analysis in SR
12.30 - 13.15	Lunch break
13.15 - 14.10	4. GRADE
14.10 - 14.40	5a. Workshop GRADE for intervention studies (part 1)
14.40 - 15.00	Break
15.00 - 15.40	5b. Workshop GRADE for intervention studies (part 2)
15.40 - 16.20	6. Reporting and updating the review
16.20 - 16.30	Time for questions and feedback

Time and Venue

	Time	Venue
Systematic Review SSR-2223-01	17-19 April 2023	August Vermeylen, Het Pand (Onderbergen 1, Gent)

Registration

Please follow this link for the registration and waiting list.

Registration fee

Free of charge for Doctoral School members. A no-show fee of 50 Euro will be charged.