Q. Briefly describe why you did not include this information in the review. Category of response (number of authors providing a response in each category) and illustrative quotes Was not relevant (2) “Didn't think it was relevant” Page/word limits (3)
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Q. If you tried to obtain further information about the intervention/s, how and where from? (n=23) (could choose ≥1 response) | |
Method of obtaining further information | n (%) |
Email/fax | 21 (91) |
Searching for other publications related to original trial/s | 16 (70) |
Searching for published protocol of original trial/s | 13 (57) |
Searching clinical trial registries | 9 (39) |
Face-to-face (eg, semistructured interviews with trialists at conferences) | 4 (13) |
Telephone | 2 (9) |
Other (broad intervention approach described in a book, but not specifically about the trial) | 1 (4) |
Q. If you contacted authors of the trial/s for further intervention information, did the trial author/s respond? (n=22) (could choose ≥1 response) | |
Response | n (%) |
All authors who were contacted responded, and provided further information | 2 (9) |
Some authors who were contacted responded, and provided further information | 10 (46) |
Some authors responded, but did/could not provide further information (eg, data were so old they were no longer available) | 8 (36) |
None of the authors who were contacted provided further information | 1 (5) |
None of the authors responded | 3 (14) |
Q. If trial authors provided you with additional intervention information, please briefly describe the nature/format of this information. Category of response (number of authors providing a response) and illustrative quotes Details about intervention components (9)
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Q. If you did not attempt to obtain further information about the intervention/s, was there a reason? (provide main reason only) (n=18) | |
Response from author | n (%) |
Not needed as interventions were fully described in the original trial | 8 (44) |
Table 3 Continued | |
Not necessary as part of a systematic review | 6 (33) |
Would not have been able to incorporate the information into the review (eg, due to word/page restrictions) | 3 (17) |
It did not occur to me/the review team to seek additional intervention information | 0 |
Other (“no time or resources to do this” and “likely to get…negative responses”) | 1 (6) |
Q. Do you have other comments about describing interventions in systematic reviews or any general comments about the reporting or use of information about interventions? Category of response (number of authors providing a response) and illustrative quotes
Awareness of the problem and suggestions of contributing factors (12)
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