Conclusiveness, linguistic characteristics and readability of Cochrane plain language summaries of intervention reviews: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

One of the most important formats to disseminate the evidence in health to different populations are Cochrane Plain Language Summaries (PLSs). PLSs should be written in a simplified language, easily understandable and providing clear message for the consumer. The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which PLSs are customized for lay persons, specifically by providing conclusive, comprehensible, and readable messages.

Methods

The study analyzed Cochrane PLSs of interventional studies (N = 4360) in the English language published from 1995 to 2019. We categorized the conclusiveness into one of the following categories: "positive", "positive inconclusive", "no evidence", "no opinion", "negative", "negative inconclusive", "unclear", "equal", "equal inconclusi

SUBMITTER: Banic A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9464378 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature