Systematic reviews often sit atop the ‘hierarchy of evidence’ in practice and policy, yet the focus tends to be on systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials of clinical interventions. The reality is that research questions (and primary evidence) in public health and social care are much more diverse than this but can all benefit from the synthesis of knowledge that a well-conducted systematic review produces. This workshop will introduce participants to the key concepts and techniques behind systematic reviews applicable to a diversity of research and practice questions. Material will cover quantitative and qualitative systematic reviews, answering research questions ranging from what are the likely causes of health and social problems to the impacts and experiences of programs and policies. Emphasis will be placed on how to produce and use systematic review evidence to inform the design, evaluation, and implementation of public health and social care programming and policy. Participants will learn about each step in the review process, with opportunity to practice some of these steps, and how to critically appraise existing systematic reviews that use different methods.

About the presenter: Dr. Alexa Yakubovich leads an interdisciplinary research program that aims to advance a structural understanding of interpersonal violence and related health inequities, with a particular focus on intimate partner violence. This program focuses on both (a) understanding the social and structural determinants of interpersonal violence and its health and social sequelae as well as (b) the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions that account for these determinants. Dr. Yakubovich currently holds a CIHR Health System Impact Fellowship and CIHR-CMHC Fellowship in Research and Knowledge Translation in Urban Housing and Health as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. She received her MSc and PhD in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and CIHR-funded researcher.

About the MAP Evaluation Series: Our Evaluation Series aims to build on our core principles – street-level solutions, policy impact, training and community partnership – to build evaluation capacity. We convene community agencies and researchers around the country interested in learning about different evaluation and developing evaluation skills.

All sessions are facilitated by individuals with academic and applied evaluation expertise, and are available free-of-charge via Zoom.

About MAP: Through big-picture research and street-level solutions, MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions tackles complex urban health issues. With an evolving focus on evidence-based solutions, the need for evaluation expertise is growing. Connected to both a teaching hospital and university, MAP has a longstanding history in training. We partner with individuals in the community, community agencies and all levels of government to study scalable solutions that will have real, long-term, positive health impacts. Visit maphealth.ca, twitter @MAP_Health.

If you'd like to learn about future Evaluation Series workshops, please join our mailing list by writing to alix.freiler @ unityhealth.to.

Evaluation Series: The role of systematic reviews in intervention research