Workshop W32

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Developments in handsearching - an international and health promotion and public health perspective.

Chloe Powell and Josephine Kavanagh.
Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre), University of London, London, UK.

c.powell doesnotexist@cochrane.org ioe.ac.uk

Objective: The workshop will provide an opportunity to elicit participants' experiences and knowledge of handsearching in order to inform future developments. We will provide a brief summary of our experiences of handsearching and of international activity and research on this topic. The focus of our summary and subsequent group discussions will be on five main areas:

Non-indexed journals and grey literature;
Non-English language sources;
The development of online systems for submission of handsearching results;
Available online training programmes;
The impact of electronic access to journals.

Summary: The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) maintains two specialized registers of research for the Cochrane Health Promotion and Public Health Field: TRoPHI (Trials Register of Promoting Health Interventions) and DoPHER (Database of Promoting Health Effectiveness Reviews). As part of an effort to ensure these registers are comprehensive and inclusive of 'difficult to find' literature, we have been investigating the value of, and methods for, incorporating handsearching activities into updates. In this workshop we will share information about this piece of work and our experience of maintaining research registers. This will include a presentation from a handsearcher from Thailand who will discuss her experience of handsearching.

The workshop will be divided into three sections:

1. An overview of Cochrane Health Promotion and Public Health Field activity:

The identification of non-indexed and non-English journals, and grey literature;
The recruitment, training and support of handsearchers;
The development of on-line systems to support handsearching;
The challenges of maintaining international collaboration;
Findings;
Next steps.

2. A brief summary of international research and practice:

A brief summary of Cochrane research and practice in handsearching;
Online training programmes.

3. Discussion - participants will be invited to:

discuss issues raised by the presentations;
share information from their own experiences with the group;
discuss the value of handsearching, and its role within The Cochrane Collaboration;
make suggestions about how this, and similar projects should proceed in the future.

The style of the workshop will be informal. Presentations will be brief and interactive. Discussions will be conducted in small groups to facilitate participation.

Level of knowledge required to attend: basic/intermediate/advanced.