ASSESSMENT OF THE REPORTING QUALITY OF QUANTITATIVE NON-EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATIVE STUDIES OF COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE IS BASED ON THE SYNTHESIS, USUALLY CARRIED OUT THROUGH SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS, OF THE RESULTS OF PRIMARY STUDIES, BUT IT IS NOT UNCOMMON THAT THE CAPACITY OF A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW TO DISTILL EVIDENCE IS DIMINISHED OR BLOCKED BY DEFICIENCIES IN THE SCIENTIFIC REPORTING OF PRIMARY STUDIES. THE LOW QUALITY OF THE SCIENTIFIC REPORT AFFECTS BASIC ASPECTS OF THE RESEARCH, SUCH AS: A) ITS REPLICABILITY, B) THE EVALUATION OF ITS METHODOLOGICAL QUALITY (RISK OF BIAS, ROB), C) THE SYNTHESIS OF ITS RESULTS THROUGH REVIEWS AND META- ANALYSIS, D) THE ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT IS EXTRACTED FROM THOSE SYNTHESES AND, THEREFORE, E) THE EFFICIENCY IN THE USE OF RESEARCH RESOURCES, F) EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING, G) THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERVENTIONS, AND H) THE RETURN OF RESEARCH RESULTS TO SOCIETY. IN ADDITION, NOT ONLY IS IT A QUESTION OF VITAL SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE, BUT ITS CONSEQUENCES GENERALLY AFFECT VARIOUS DISCIPLINES, RESEARCH DESIGNS AND OBJECTS OF STUDY. SCIENTIFIC REPORTING STANDARDS ARE AN INVALUABLE HELP TO ACHIEVE HIGH-QUALITY SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. CONSIDERING THE VARIABILITY THAT STUDIES ON COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS CAN PRESENT DUE TO THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS TYPE OF INTERVENTIONS, FOLLOWING A REPORTING GUIDELINE FOR THE PUBLICATION OF EVALUATIVE STUDIES OF COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS (ES-CI) CAN BE EVEN MORE DECISIVE IN ACHIEVING A HIGH-QUALITY REPORT. TO DATE, ONLY ADAPTATIONS FOR COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS OF THE REPORTING STANDARDS FOR EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS (CONSORT-SPI) AND SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS IN ANY FIELD (PRISMA-CI) HAVE BEEN PROPOSED. THERE IS, THEREFORE, A GAP IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXTENSIONS OF THE REPORTING STANDARDS FOR ES-CI WITH QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL AND OBSERVATIONAL COHORT AND CROSS-SECTIONAL DESIGNS. COMPARED TO EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES, THESE TYPES OF STUDIES PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN ESTABLISHING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HEALTHCARE PRACTICES, PROGRAMS AND POLICIES. BASED ON THE KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE OF THE APPLICANT RESEARCH TEAM ON THE SUBJECT OF INTEREST, ACQUIRED IN PREVIOUS FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS (PSI2014-52962 AND PGC2018-100675-B-I00), FOCUSED, RESPECTIVELY, ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TOOL FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE ROB IN COHORT, CASE-CONTROL AND CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDIES, AND IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTILEVEL PROCEDURE TO EVALUATE THE ROB OF ES-CI, AIMED AT BOTH THE RESEARCH DESIGN AND AT THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY, THE PROPOSAL OF THE REQUESTED PROJECT HAS THE FOLLOWING GENERAL OBJECTIVES: A) AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF THE DIMENSIONS THAT CHARACTERIZE COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS IN THE DIFFERENT FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, THROUGH A META-REVIEW OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS ON COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY; AND B) THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXTENSIONS FOR ES-CI OF THE SCIENTIFIC REPORTING STANDARDS OF STUDIES WITH QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL AND OBSERVATIONAL COHORT AND CROSS-SECTIONAL DESIGNS, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS IN THE DIFFERENT FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH.