title: Quality of abstracts in the context of a systematic review on parenting of children with chronic health conditions and disabilities.
abstract: In this study the authors address the quality of abstracts reviewed during a systematic review. Their objective was to describe the proportion of abstracts that could not be coded and to explore factors associated with that outcome. Using an exploratory design, a database of titles uploaded for analysis was examined for clarity, type and year of publication, and abstract format. Of the 1851 references examined, 481 (26%) were coded as unclear. The inter-rater reliability Kappa score was 0.777. These abstracts were more likely to have been published prior to 2002 and did not use a structured format. Abstracts are an important tool in the systematic review process. Structured abstracts can reduce the time and costs associated with conducting a systematic review.
authors.affiliation: Centre For Research on Children and Families, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Traci
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cimino
authors.forename: Lucyna M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Lach
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mechan
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saini
authors.forename: Jodie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nimigon-Young
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McNeill
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nicholas
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D000043:Abstracting and Indexing / Q000592:standards; D002908:Chronic Disease; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D016487:Parenting; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012947:Social Work; D000078202:Systematic Reviews as Topic