Yulia Shenderovich
Methods for conducting systematic reviews of risk factors in low- and middle-income countries
Shenderovich, Yulia; Eisner, Manuel; Mikton, Christopher; Gardner, Frances; Liu, Jianghong; Murray, Joseph
Authors
Abstract
© 2016 Shenderovich et al. Background: Rates of youth violence are disproportionately high in many low- and middle-income countries [LMICs] but existing reviews of risk factors focus almost exclusively on high-income countries. Different search strategies, including non-English language searches, might be required to identify relevant evidence in LMICs. This paper discusses methodological issues in systematic reviews aiming to include evidence from LMICs, using the example of a recent review of risk factors for child conduct problems and youth violence in LMICs. Methods: We searched the main international databases, such as PsycINFO, Medline and EMBASE in English, as well as 12 regional databases in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. In addition, we used internet search engines and Google Scholar, and contacted over 200 researchers and organizations to identify potentially eligible studies in LMICs. Results: The majority of relevant studies were identified in the mainstream databases, but additional studies were also found through regional databases, such as CNKI, Wangfang, LILACS and SciELO. Overall, 85 % of eligible studies were in English, and 15 % were reported in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian or French. Among eligible studies in languages other than English, two-thirds were identified only by regional databases and one-third was also indexed in the main international databases. Conclusions: There are many studies on child conduct problems and youth violence in LMICs which have not been included in prior reviews. Most research on these subjects in LMICs has been produced in the last two-three decades and mostly in middle-income countries, such as China, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa and Russia. Based on our findings, it appears that many studies of child conduct problems and youth violence in LMICs are reported in English, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese, but few such studies are published in French, Arabic or Russian. If non-English language searches and screening had not been conducted in the current review, 15 % of eligible studies would have been missed. Although there are benefits to non-English language searches and the inclusion of non-English studies in meta-analyses, systematic reviewers also need to consider the resources required to incorporate multi-lingual research.
Citation
Shenderovich, Y., Eisner, M., Mikton, C., Gardner, F., Liu, J., & Murray, J. (2016). Methods for conducting systematic reviews of risk factors in low- and middle-income countries. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 16(1), https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-016-0134-2
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Mar 10, 2016 |
Publication Date | Jan 1, 2016 |
Deposit Date | Sep 12, 2016 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 29, 2024 |
Journal | BMC Medical Research Methodology |
Electronic ISSN | 1471-2288 |
Publisher | BioMed Central |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 16 |
Issue | 1 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-016-0134-2 |
Keywords | databases, meta-analysis, systematic review, low- and middle-income countries, conduct problems, violence |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/923183 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12874-016-0134-2 |
Files
art%3A10.1186%2Fs12874-016-0134-2.pdf
(1.4 Mb)
PDF
You might also like
Research Protocol for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Elder Abuse Prevalence Studies
(2017)
Journal Article
Moving research beyond the spanking debate
(2017)
Journal Article
Global research priorities for interpersonal violence prevention: A modified Delphi study
(2016)
Journal Article
Global status report on violence prevention 2014
(2016)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About UWE Bristol Research Repository
Administrator e-mail: repository@uwe.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search