LibGuides: HPM 52016: Public Health Administration: Says Who? Levels of Evidence

Levels of evidence pyramid

The level of evidence can usefully be imagined as a pyramid. The highest quality of evidence, such as systematic reviews and meta-analysis is much less common than unfiltered sources like case reports. Seek the highest quality of evidence but sometimes your research question(s) will be limited to lower levels of evidence.

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Existing Policy

It may be most helpful to begin by looking at existing public health policy or proposed policy. Some recommended resources include:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: National Guideline Clearinghouse
"The NGC mission is to provide physicians and other health care professionals, health care providers, health plans, integrated delivery systems, purchasers and others an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation, and use."
The Community Guide
The Guide to Community Preventive Services (The Community Guide) is a collection of evidence-based findings of the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF). It is a resource to help you select interventions to improve health and prevent disease in your state, community, community organization, business, healthcare organization, or school.
National Association of County and City Health Officials: Model Practices
NACCHO’s Model Practices Program nationally honors and recognizes outstanding local public health practice and shares the outstanding practices through the Model Practices Database. By submitting a practice, LHDs contribute to the overall improvement of public health through effective evidence-based practice methods.

Systematic review of evidence and analysis (filtered)

A systematic review attempts to identify, appraise and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a given research question. Researchers conducting systematic reviews use explicit methods aimed at minimizing bias, in order to produce more reliable findings that can be used to inform decision making. (See Section 1.2 in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.)

Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
The Cochrane Library is a collection of several databases including: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cochrane Clinical Answers, and topic-specific special collections.
Campbell Library of Systematic Reviews This link opens in a new window
Systematic reviews on topics within the social sciences. Subjects include crime & justice, disability, education, international development, social welfare, and more. The Campbell Library also contains resources and tools for researchers conducting systematic reviews.
The Campbell Library of Systematic Reviews is part of the Campbell Collaboration, an organization dedicated to the production and use of systematic reviews for evidence-based policy and practice. See also the Campbell Collaboration's open-access journal, Campbell Systematic Reviews.

PubMed Health
Search by topic for well-defined evidence-based health reviews.

PubMed (MEDLINE) This link opens in a new window
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Using appropriate custom filters, PubMed searches can be limited to systematic reviews

Research databases (unfiltered)

Databases A-Z

PubMed (MEDLINE) This link opens in a new window
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PubMed provides free, worldwide access to 35 million citations in all areas of the life sciences including but not limited to: medicine, nursing, biological sciences, veterinary medicine, dentistry, and much more. Accessing PubMed through this URL will provide links to online, full-text articles available through Kent State University Libraries subscriptions.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Access the full text for more than 4,000 scholarly publications covering diverse academic areas of study.
Areas of study include social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.
CINAHL Plus with Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Find articles on nursing and allied health topics including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, consumer health, alternative therapies and more. Also includes evidence-based care sheets, continuing education modules, and research instruments records.
Includes such disciplines as physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, consumer health, alternative therapies, and health sciences librarianship. Updated monthly.
SPORTdiscus This link opens in a new window
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Locate articles on sports and fitness.
Topics covered include: physical fitness, physical education, sports medicine, exercise psychology, biomechanics, training, coaching, sports psychology, games, and dance.
Food Science Source This link opens in a new window
Find articles related to issues in the food industry.

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HPM 52016: Public Health Administration: Says Who? Levels of Evidence

Levels of evidence pyramid

Existing Policy

Systematic review of evidence and analysis (filtered)

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