As the website already explains in the ‘Developing the EPID‘ section, the first study within this project is a systematic review.
A systematic review (SR) compiles lots of evidence in one area to provide an answer to a specific research question. The method in how the evidence is collected and analysed must be completely transparent and replicable. Researchers have carried out SRs on whether cranberry juice helps with UTIs, or if taking multi-vitamins assists with maintaining cognitive function as people age. SRs are incredibly important pieces of research – they allow us to lean on the findings of several research papers that attempt to answer the same question.
As part of my fellowship, I had the absolute joy of being trained in Systematic Reviews at Oxford University, by Prof Mike Clarke. The course was excellent. Mike started us off with thinking about our motivations and priorities – ‘Why are you doing this review? What do you want to happen with your findings? Which question is most important to you?’ We were then taken through the systematic review process, from writing a research question (sounds easier than it is) to analysing and writing up your answer…
Our systematic review asks three questions. Within the parent-child interaction literature for deaf babies aged 0-3:
- Which parent behaviours are being assessed?
- How are these behaviours assessed?
- Which of these parent behaviours correlate with child language?
To return to Prof Clarke’s initial question above: ‘why are you doing this review?’ The answer is two-fold. There is so much PCI research out there in deafness and so much advice is given by professionals, charities, and parent groups. Family life is a busy one, so it’s helpful to make sure the ‘take away message’ or strategy for the week is a good one, one that works and based on what we know so far. I want to enhance my practice with evidence and be confident in the advice I give to parents and the therapists I support. Secondly, the answer to question 3 (in bold) will help us to form some of the proposed content of the evidence-based EPID tool.
All good systematic reviews should have a protocol published. This holds the research team accountable and enables them to be more transparent about their plans and any changes they have made. You can find our systematic review protocol here.
Within this post, there are three more people I’d like to introduce…
The first is our international collaborator, Dr Evelien Dirks. Evelien works as programme lead and senior researcher at The Dutch Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in The Netherlands. Her research focuses on parent-child interaction, language, social-emotional and cognitive development in young deaf children. I was thrilled when Evelien suggested we collaborate on the Systematic Review. She is an excellent researcher and has produced many interesting and thought-provoking papers. Evelien and I completed the first few stages of the review together.
Lauren Newman is a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist working in deafness and complex needs in Tower Hamlets. Lauren is developing her interests in research and is also engaged in a research project with The Ladder Lab (Dr Fiona Kyle and Prof Ros Herman).
Lucy Rodgers is a Clinical Academic and Speech and Language Therapist. She works in Brighton with (hearing) pre-school children with co-occurring speech and language difficulties. Lucy is also an NIHR funded Pre-Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellow and is currently working on the development of a complex intervention to use with her client group.
Lucy and Lauren have kindly given up some of their time to assist with the Systematic Review. Along with myself, Evelien and my supervisors, Lauren and Lucy have been attending regular meetings, extracting papers for data, and reviewing the quality of the papers included. They’ll be assisting with the analysis and write up too. It’s brilliant to have two more clinical academic SLTs on board. More about our progress very soon!