When developing your eligibility it is important that the entire team is clear on the criteria. Clarity on how eligibility criteria are applied is essential for consistent application by the research team.There are many frameworks that can be used to establish your eligibility (inclusion and exclusion) criteria and inform your search strategy. The most commonly used framework for intervention systematic reviews is:
You might want to add the setting or context, or the study design to your eligibility criteria. Some frameworks are more useful for observational or qualitative reviews. Other common frameworks include:
- PEO Population Exposure Outcome
- PECOT Population Exposure Context Outcome
- SPIDER Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type (Cooke et al. 2012)
- SPICE Setting, Perspective, Intervention, Comparison, Evaluation (Booth 2006)
Not only will the review framework help you clearly set out your research question and eligibility criteria but it will also be useful in the development of your search strategy.
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