Critical Appraisal of a Web-Based Motivational Intervention

Source Appraisal
Student Name
Program Name or Degree Name 
COURSE XXX: Title of Course
Instructor Name
Month XX, 202X
Source Appraisal
1. WHAT QUESTION ARE YOU TRYING TO ANSWER?

Patients

In adolescents,

Intervention

how does a web-based motivational intervention

Comparison

compared to screening alone

Outcome(s)

impact substance use?

2. ARE THE RESULTS OF THE GUIDELINES VALID?


Questions that need asking


What is this, and where do I find this information?

Details from Assigned CPG
Include page number as applicable

Is the group, committee, or organization that developed the guidelines identified?

Yes / No
Can’t tell

This information has usually located either right at the front of the guidelines or in the back of the document in an appendix. For some guideline groups, this information is found on their website at the point of downloading the guideline itself.

The group that developed the guidelines is clearly identified as the US Preventive Service Taskforce (USPSTF) CITATION Kri20 \p 2308 \l 2057 (Krist et al., 2020, p. 2308). The authors are listed as members of the task force.

Did authors declare conflicts of interest among all parties involved in guideline preparation and consensus?

Yes / No
Can’t tell

Conflict of interest is essential to locate within a clinical practice guideline (CPG) to ensure validity. Sometimes the writers of CPGs have financial or expert relationships with pharmaceutical companies or are extensively involved in other research studies that might negatively bias the development of objective CPGs. Conflict of interest should ideally be stated upfront within the guideline but may also be included in a paragraph at the very back of a document.

The authors adhered to the task force’s policy on conflicts of interests in terms of conflict of interests. According to the procedure, the USPSTF requests to declare potential conflicts (p. 2308) of interests among authorship groups to provide objective, balanced, independent, and rigorous study outcomes.

Is there proof of a systematic literature search and strategic selection of articles for review?
(Was it a SYSTEMATIC PROCESS?)

Yes / No
Can’t tell

All CPGs need to describe the literature review (and the timeline; for example, 2000-2009) whereby evidence was located. Specific databases where the search occurred should be cited (e.g., Medline, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane). Again, this should be noted within the first few pages of the CPG.

The article does not indicate a systematic process. In other words, no evidence or a particular section focuses on a review of contemporary research outcomes. Instead, the paper consists of two major critical sections: the importance (of the study) and practice considerations.

Have evidence ratings or indicators of value been indicated for each guideline?

Yes / No
Can’t tell

CPGs should be developed by consensus. There should be a specific scale to rate the quality and strength of evidence and the consensus result in doing so. This might look like “Grade 1a,” suggesting a highly rated recommendation and a highly rated consensus among the CPG committee. This should be noted for every guideline within the CPG and be noted throughout the document.

Evidence indicators have been provided or indicated for each guideline. For instance, the authors recommend screening by asking questions about substance abuse and misuse in adults over 18. In this case, the evidence marker is that the approach has moderate CITATION Kri20 \p 2302 \l 2057 (Krist et al., 2020, p. 2302) net benefit in addressing addiction.

To what extent has expert opinion been identified for particular guidelines – is it extensive?

Yes / No
Can’t tell

Sometimes, background research is just not available to help inform CPGs on particular topics. In these instances, guideline groups or committees sometimes choose to create a statement or guideline-based solely on expert opinion or experience of experts. While a few statements of this nature are usually accepted within guidelines, a high percentage of statements within a CPG may be inappropriate. Further, clinicians using these guidelines must consider the risks and value of using expert opinion-based guidelines to make clinical...