Systematic Review Library
The NREPP Systematic Review Library has been compiled by NREPP staff to provide users with available research evidence published in systematic reviews on topics related to (1) mental health treatment and promotion, and (2) substance abuse treatment and prevention. A systematic review is a literature review that attempts to collect, summarize, and present results of individual studies, and then synthesizes findings on a given topic. A systematic review may contain a meta-analysis; that is, an analytic procedure that uses statistical techniques to combine the results of two or more studies into one estimate often reported as an effect size.
Systematic Review Selection
Literature searches for the Systematic Review Library are limited to the online catalog of the U.S. Government's National Library of Medicine, PubMed to provide readers free access to abstracts and articles. Search strategies include the use of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), keywords, and filters, such as date range and types of publication. MeSH terms assist in the retrieval of reviews that may use a range of different terminology to discuss similar concepts. After the initial search, search strings are saved using the automatic update function on PubMed, which sends notification of additional reviews potentially meeting inclusion criteria. Once compiled, the systematic reviews are summarized by three reviewers and differences in the interpretation of results are considered, leading to consensus. The summaries, which include study objectives, descriptive characteristics, results, and limitations, are then organized under the topic areas listed below.