Review of Systematic Review Methods: The Science of Research Synthesis

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The Absence of Presence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Indicated Interventions to Increase Student Attendance

The present study utilized systematic review methods and meta-analysis to quantitatively synthesize research and systematically examine the effects of indicated intervention programs on school attendance behaviors of elementary and secondary school students. A comprehensive search strategy resulted in the identification 11 randomized studies, 9 quasi-experimental studies and 13 single group pre-post test studies that met inclusion criteria. Effect sizes data and study, participant, and intervention characteristics were coded and analyzed. Analyses of the randomized and quasi-experimental studies were performed separately from the single group pre-post test studies. The meta-analytic findings showed overall positive and moderate effects of indicated attendance interventions on attendance outcomes. There was, however, significant heterogeneity found between studies. Moderator analyses were conducted to examine potential variables related to study, participant and intervention characteristics that may explain the variability in effect sizes. Behavioral interventions were found to be more effective than other interventions and, when combined with parental interventions, demonstrated greater effects than behavioral interventions alone. Attendance groups were also found to be effective, especially when combined with attendance monitoring and contracting/awards. Court-based, school-based and clinic-based programs produced similar effects. The available evidence did not support the use of family therapy or mentoring as indicated interventions. The findings of this meta-analysis also did not support the use of multi-modal or collaborative programs over simpler, non-collaborative interventions, even though multi-modal and/or collaborative interventions are often recommended as best practice. Although the interventions demonstrated a moderate mean effect, the mean absence rates at post-test for the majority of the studies remained above 10%; thus it appears that the majority of interventions are falling short in their attempts to improve student attendance to the point of achieving an acceptable level of regular attendance. In addition to evaluating the effects of interventions, this systematic review and meta-analysis uncovered a number of methodological shortcomings, absence of important variables and data as well as gaps in the evidence base. The author calls for a critical analysis of the practices, assumptions and social-political context underlying the extant evidence base. Implications for practice, policy and research are discussed as well as limitations of the present study

Public or private religiosity: which Is protective for adolescent substance use and by what pathways?

While it is well understood that adolescent religiosity is associated with the use and abuse of licit and illicit substances, few studies have revealed the pathways through which religiosity buffers youth against involvement in such behavior. The aim of this study is to examine the complexity of the relationships between religiosity, sensation seeking, injunctive norms, and adolescent substance use. Using a national sample of adolescents (N = 18,614), negative binomial regression and path analysis were used to examine the various components of the relationship between religiosity and the use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Results indicate that private religiosity moderates the relationship between key risk factors and substance use. Public and private religiosity were associated with tolerant injunctive substance use norms which, in turn, were associated with substance use. Implications for research and theory related to religiosity and adolescent substance use are discussed

Lessons from working across fields to develop a framework for informed choices

In late 2018, Iain Chalmers, Andy Oxman and others from the Informed Health Choices team convened a cross-field forum to develop a generic framework of key concepts for thinking critically about claims, research and choices about interventions, with the aim of supporting ‘informed choices’. We define an informed choice as one that is based on critical understanding of the relevant available evidence. This paper describes the process of that cross-field engagement, and reflects on how consensus was reached on the generic framework. Working in an alliance of 24 researchers from across fields to develop the Key Concepts for Informed Choices framework, we learned three lessons about cross-field working: (1) there was much agreement, despite diversity of views and experiences; (2) the applications of our work were broader than we could have imagined; and (3) we identified a wide range of problems that we have in common when making informed choices. Here we describe our experience of working together to develop the framework, and draw out lessons for others who may be involved in similar cross-field initiatives

Key Concepts for making informed Choices

Teach people to think critically about claims and comparisons — they will make better decisions

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead