Introduction to using The Cochrane Library

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Introduction to usingThe Cochrane Library
Louise Falzon Cochrane Probable Behavioral
Medicine Field Systematic Review
Workshop February 16 2006
Much of the material in this presentation has
been adapted from NHS Centre for Reviews and
Dissemination University of York training
materials.
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• Premier resource for information on effectiveness
• Full text of maintained systematic reviews
• Structured abstracts of other systematic reviews
• Single best resource for references to randomized
  controlled trials

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WHAT IS IT?

• Reliable evidence about the effectiveness of
  interventions

• Treatment
• Diagnosis and screening
• Health promotion
• Organization of care

• Anything you can do to someone to influence their
  state of health

• Research

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WHAT ITS NOT

• Textbook
• Guidelines
• Prescriptive

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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
(Cochrane Reviews) A rapidly growing list of
regularly updated summaries of the best available
evidence prepared by members of the Cochrane
Collaboration.
The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects
(DARE)Other published reviews prepared by people
outside of the Cochrane Collaboration
The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled
Trials (CENTRAL) Where to look if you want to
track down the original studies the largest
single source of controlled trials.
The Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews
(Methodology Reviews) Where to find research
about the best way to conduct a systematic review.
The Cochrane Methodology Register (CMR) As
exciting as it sounds! Where to find studies
which look at the science of systematic reviewing.
About the Cochrane Collaboration (About) Where to
look for information about Cochrane review groups
and other activities of the Cochrane
Collaboration.
The Health Technology Assessment Database
(HTA)An international collection of health
technology assessments.
The NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS
EED)International economic evaluations of health
care interventions.
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WHEN SHOULD YOU USE THE COCHRANE LIBRARY?

• Effectiveness of treatments
• What is the best treatment for depression?
• Does giving advice to reduce dietary salt prevent
  cardiovascular events and mortality?
• Is psychological treatment versus antidepressants
  or their combination more effective for bulimia
  nervosa?

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WHEN SHOULDNT YOU?

• Background healthcare questions
• causality, prognosis, distribution of disease,
  etc.
• Descriptive studies (prevalence and incidence)
• Primary observational research (i.e., other than
  RCTs and CCTs
• Ongoing research

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WHERE TO FIND THE LIBRARY
- Institutional libraries (universities, hospital
libraries, public health department libraries)
- Available by personal and institutional
subscription
- www.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane
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Practice Accessing and Searching The Cochrane
Library
1) Go to this internet address
www.interscience.wiley.com

• User Name your email address
• Password your chosen password

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Question Will hypnotherapy help people to give
up smoking?
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Type hypno in the search area. Using the will
search for any words beginning with the letters
hypno, such as hypnosis, hypnotic, hynpnotherapy,
etc.
2. Click on the GO button
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Results of the search for hypno. You can toggle
between results listed for the different
databases in The Cochrane Library here. The
number in brackets indicates the number of
records that match your search in that database.
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Type smoking cessation into the search area. This
will search for the word smoking next to the
word cessation.
Then, click on the GO button
Use these links to restrict your search results
to Reviews or Protocols
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Search results for records with smoking
cessation.
Next, click on Search History
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The history screen displays previous searches and
allows you to combine them.
Type 1 and 2 in the search box. Then click on
the Go button.
This set combination (1 and 2) will search for
records which contain both the phrase smoking
cessation and at least one word starting with
hypno.
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The results of combining sets 1 and 2 are shown
as set 3 (3)
To view results, click here.
The search is now narrowed to 28 hits.
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There are 11 hits in the Cochrane Reviews, 2 in
DARE, 13 in CENTRAL, 1 in HTA, and 1 in About the
CC. Click on each database to see a listing of
results.
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Click on the blue Record to view the complete
record
The R indicates that this is a full review. A
P would indicate that it is a protocol.
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A table of contents for the review appears on the
left of your screen. You can link directly to
the section of the article that interests you
using these links.
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Select Description of studies from the menu on
the left.
Then, click on the link to the reference for
Rabkin 1984
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You can now link directly to the cited reference.
Access may depend on your institutions
subscription to various journals and databases.
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You can now link directly to the cited reference.
Access may depend on your institutions
subscription to various journals and databases.
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To do a more thorough search, use the Cochrane
Advanced Search feature.
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Select the MeSh (Medical Subject Headings) Search
feature. This will give you a thesaurus
published by the US National Library of Medicine
(NLM).
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Type smoking in the box and then click on the
Thesaurus button
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The system will display the thesaurus which lists
all the MeSH terms that contain your word.
Select smoking cessation by clicking on it.
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The system will search for any records that have
been indexed using the MeSH smoking-cessation.
Smoking cessation is the lowest level on the
tree. That means that it is the narrowest term
to search on.
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This search returns 34 hits in the Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews and 1073 in
Central.
Now, select the advanced search again.
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Then choose MeSH search.
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Type hypnosis in the MeSH term box.
Then click on the Go to MeSh Trees button.
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Click on the Go button to search for any
records that hav been indexed using the MeSH
hypnosis.
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You will see the Tree for hypnosis displayed
(Tree Number 1). Now click on Search History.
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Type 1 or 5 then click on the Go button. This
will search for any records that contain either
the free text term beginning with the letters
hypno or the MeSH term HYPNOSIS.
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Type 6 and 7 then click on the Go button. This
will search for any records that contain at least
one term from search 6 (i.e. hypnosis related
terms) and one term from search number 7 (i.e.
smoking cessation related terms).
To view the results, click on the final search
line.
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There are 11 reviews that met the search
criteria. Scroll down to find a review
Hypnotherapy for smoking cessation.
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There are 11 hits in the Cochrane Reviews, 2 in
DARE, 16 in CENTRAL, and 1 in HTA. Click on each
database to see a listing of results.