JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Lack of knowledge about systematic reviews (SRs) could prevent individual healthcare professionals from using SRs as a source of information in their clinical practice or discourage them from participating in such research.

Objective:

In this randomized controlled trial (RCT), we evaluated the effect of a short online educational intervention on short-term knowledge of SRs.

Methods:

Eligible participants were 871 Master’s students of university health sciences studies in Croatia; 589 students who agreed to participate in the trial were randomized by a computer program into two groups. The intervention group (n=294) received a short online educational intervention about SR methodology, and the control group (n=295) were presented with the PRISMA checklist. Participants’ knowledge about SRs was assessed before and after the intervention. The subjects could not be blinded due to the nature of the intervention. The primary outcome was the difference in the percentage of correct answers about SR methodology per participant between groups after the intervention, expressed as relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI).

Results:

Results from 162 and 165 participants from the intervention and control group, respectively, were available for analysis. Most of them were employed as healthcare professionals in addition to being health sciences students. After the intervention, the intervention group had 23% more correct answers in the post-intervention questionnaire than the control group (RR = 1.23; 95% CI 1.17 to 1.29).

Conclusions:

A short online educational intervention about SRs is an effective tool for short-term improvement of knowledge on SRs among healthcare studies students, most of whom were also employed as healthcare professionals. Further studied are needed to explore the long-term effects of the tested education. Clinical Trial: Trial registration: The study protocol was registered on the Open Science Framework (OSF) (osf.io/x2mf5/). Funding: This study was conducted as a part of the Professionalism in health: decision making in practice and science (ProDeM) project (IP-2019-04-4882), funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (HRZZ) principal investigator: Prof. Ana Marušić, MD, PhD.