Cochrane South Africa/EHCRC Time-out Fellowship – May 2016
Wednesday, 31 Aug 2016Cochrane South Africa/EHCRC Time-out Fellowship – May 2016
In May 2016, Cochrane South Africa (SA) hosted four participants for the Cochrane SA/EHCRC fellowship in Cape Town. Travel and accommodation were funded by Cochrane SA through fellowships offered by the Effective Health Care Research Consortium.
This fellowship aims to provide Cochrane Review authors an opportunity for dedicated time to work towards completing or updating their reviews, receiving methodological and technical assistance from Centre staff, and to be able to liaise with co-authors and the relevant Cochrane Review Group for editorial or content support.
In order to be considered for the fellowship, applicants must have published the protocol of their Cochrane Review, completed their searching, finalized study selection, and (preferably) have started data extraction.
Participants and facilitators at the fellowship; from left to right: Tamara Kredo, Joy Oliver, Karen Daniels, Natalie Leon, Nasheeta Peer, Willem Odendaal, Solange Durão, and Elizabeth Pienaar.
The programme included short daily Review Manager (RevMan) Tips sessions on common editorial issues, including PRISMA and reporting searches; creating and completing tables in RevMan including 'Risk of bias' tables, data entry, and analysis; and validation checking and submitting the review for publication. Other sessions included 'Risk of bias' assessment; the use of the Cochrane 'Risk of bias' tool; and the use of GRADE. A Statistics Clinic was also held where a biostatistician provided group and individual advice on statistical issues.
All the Cochrane Review Groups linked with the participants were contacted and informed of the planned event and asked to be available should editorial issues arise. Co-author meetings were facilitated where possible.
At the end of the fellowship, participants presented a timeline for completing their reviews. They also signed statements of intent indicating when they expect to complete the different steps of the Cochrane Review. This will enable us to follow-up and support them on a regular basis regarding the status of the review.
The feedback received from the participants will be used to improving future fellowship programmes.
Report prepared by Michelle Galloway, Communciations Officer, Cochrane South Africa.