The APCP North West Region have introduced a Virtual Journal Club for to support members to develop their critical appraisal skills in a supportive and informal environment.
APCP North West Region Committee members, Liz Cowan and Helen Hartley co-hosted the first meeting of the Regions's Virtual Journal Club on Thursday, 4th May 2021.
The research identified for appraisal was Postural Control Intervention for Children with Dyspraxia / Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Randomised Control Study. K. Glendenning, K. Lee; APCP Journal Volume 8 Number 2 (2017) 12-23.
The appraisal process was guided by the CASP (2020) Randomised Control Check List.
Attendees came with a varied level of knowledge and experience of critical appraisal and research processes and from differing clinical backgrounds, from newly qualified therapists to those with many years of clinical practice under their belts. It was therefore interesting and informative to critique the work together and resulted in some interesting discussion.
For some of the session attendees worked in smaller breakout groups to facilitate easier discussion. During the round-up session at the end of the meeting, it became clear that understanding and analysing the statistics had been a challenge for most and so it was decided to consider dedicating a future session to some training / guidance on this.
"... none us are experts, just clinicians keen to get research active to ensure that our practice is evidence-based!"
Commenting after the first meeting, Liz Cowan commented: "I am really pleased that we have finally hosted our first meeting of the APCP North West Region Journal Club, as I have been talking about this for quite a while! Helen and I were quite nervous about how it would go, but we were really pleased and feel that everyone got something from it. We wanted to re-create the informality of a departmental club and will be encouraging other members to co-host meetings with us ... none of us are experts, just clinicians keen to to get research active to ensure that our practice is evidence-based! "
Liz and Helen have found that one of the biggest challenges they are encountering is identifying topical and relevant articles for review that are readily available. They would appreciate advice from anyone who has experience of running Journal Clubs and are equally happy to discuss their experiences to date with any members who would like to set up a Journal Club in their own Region.
Next steps ...
The APCP North West Virtual Journal Club will meet every other month on the first Thursday with a core group of regular attendees from the North West Region.
APCP members from outside the North West Region are welcome to attend individual sessions, particularly if they have a specific interest in the research being appraised or if they are interested in setting up a Journal Club in their own Region.
For further information about the APCP North West Virtual Journal Club please visit the APCP North West Region web pages or contact: northwest@apcp.org.uk
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