Applying GRADE-CERQual to qualitative evidence synthesis findings—paper 2: how to make an overall CERQual assessment of confidence and create a Summary of Qualitative Findings table

Public Deposited
Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Request Version for Screen Reader
Creator
  • Lewin, Simon
    • Other Affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway; Health Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa
  • Bohren, Meghan
    • Other Affiliation: UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Rashidian, Arash
    • Other Affiliation: Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Information, Evidence and Research Department, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, World Health Organization, Cairo, Egypt
  • Munthe-Kaas, Heather
    • Other Affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
  • Glenton, Claire
    • Other Affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
  • Colvin, Christopher J
    • Other Affiliation: Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
  • Garside, Ruth
    • Other Affiliation: European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, UK
  • Noyes, Jane
    • Other Affiliation: School of Social Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, UK
  • Booth, Andrew
    • Other Affiliation: School of Health & Related Research (ScHARR), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
  • Tunçalp, Özge
    • Other Affiliation: UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Wainwright, Megan
    • Other Affiliation: Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
  • Flottorp, Signe
    • Other Affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
  • Tucker, Joseph
  • Carlsen, Benedicte
    • Other Affiliation: Uni Research Rokkan Centre, Bergen, Norway
Abstract
  • Background The GRADE-CERQual (Confidence in Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research) approach has been developed by the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) Working Group. The approach has been developed to support the use of findings from qualitative evidence syntheses in decision making, including guideline development and policy formulation. CERQual includes four components for assessing how much confidence to place in findings from reviews of qualitative research (also referred to as qualitative evidence syntheses): (1) methodological limitations, (2) coherence, (3) adequacy of data and (4) relevance. This paper is part of a series providing guidance on how to apply CERQual and focuses on making an overall assessment of confidence in a review finding and creating a CERQual Evidence Profile and a CERQual Summary of Qualitative Findings table. Methods We developed this guidance by examining the methods used by other GRADE approaches, gathering feedback from relevant research communities and developing consensus through project group meetings. We then piloted the guidance on several qualitative evidence syntheses before agreeing on the approach. Results Confidence in the evidence is an assessment of the extent to which a review finding is a reasonable representation of the phenomenon of interest. Creating a summary of each review finding and deciding whether or not CERQual should be used are important steps prior to assessing confidence. Confidence should be assessed for each review finding individually, based on the judgements made for each of the four CERQual components. Four levels are used to describe the overall assessment of confidence: high, moderate, low or very low. The overall CERQual assessment for each review finding should be explained in a CERQual Evidence Profile and Summary of Qualitative Findings table. Conclusions Structuring and summarising review findings, assessing confidence in those findings using CERQual and creating a CERQual Evidence Profile and Summary of Qualitative Findings table should be essential components of undertaking qualitative evidence syntheses. This paper describes the end point of a CERQual assessment and should be read in conjunction with the other papers in the series that provide information on assessing individual CERQual components.
Date of publication
DOI
Identifier
Resource type
  • Article
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Rights holder
  • The Author(s).
Journal title
  • Implementation Science
Journal volume
  • 13
Journal issue
  • 1
Page start
  • 10
Language
  • English
Bibliographic citation
  • Implementation Science. 2018 Jan 25;13(Suppl 1):10
Publisher
  • BioMed Central

Relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details 13012_2017_article_689.pdf 2019-05-07 Public Download
file details 13012_2017_689_moesm2_esm.pdf 2019-05-07 Public Download
file details 13012_2017_689_moesm1_esm.pdf 2019-05-07 Public Download
file details 13012_2017_689_moesm3_esm.pdf 2019-05-07 Public Download
file details 13012_2017_689_moesm4_esm.pdf 2019-05-07 Public Download
file details 13012_2017_689_moesm5_esm.pdf 2019-05-07 Public Download