Outline for Week 11

Critically Appraising Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

· Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

· Critical Appraisal of Systematic Reviews

The objective of this week's class is to discuss and apply strategies for appraising the quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses to inform practice decision-making  To this end, we will look in more detail at the PRISMA statement and the AMSTAR tool.  As usual, we will also talk about ways to assess the applicability of findings to your own clients, appraisal of effect size, and how to go about finding more information that will tell you how to implement the intervention.

As you know, systematic reviews and meta-analyses are complex, and take some practice to comprehend.  So, again we will practice, using the Kinship Care systematic review assigned for the discussion this next week.

Take heart!  We are almost done!