An increasing number of interventions have some empirical support ; others are emerging as potentially efficacious .
This evidence base up date examines the level of empirical support for interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) younger than 5 years old .
Evaluating the impact and use of Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Non-randomised Designs (TREND) reporting guidelines
Introduction Accurate and full reporting of evaluation of interventions in health research is needed for evidence synthesis and informed decision-making . Evidence suggests that biases and incomplete reporting affect the assessment of study validity and the ability to include this data in secondary research . The Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Non-r and omised Design s ( TREND ) reporting guideline was developed to improve the transparency and accuracy of the reporting of behavioural and public health evaluations with non-r and omised design s. Evaluations of reporting guidelines have shown that they can be effective in improving reporting completeness . Although TREND occupies a niche within reporting guidelines , and despite it being 8 years since publication , no study yet has assessed its impact on reporting completeness or investigated what factors affect its use by authors and journal editors . This protocol describes two studies that aim to redress this . Methods and analysis Study 1 will use an observational design to examine the uptake and use of TREND by authors , and by journals in their instructions to authors . A comparison of reporting completeness and study quality of papers that do and do not use TREND to inform reporting will be made . Study 2 will use a cross-sectional survey to investigate what factors inhibit or facilitate authors ’ and journal editors ’ use of TREND . Semistructured interviews will also be conducted with a subset of authors and editors to explore findings from study 1 and the surveys in greater depth . Ethics and dissemination These studies will generate evidence of how implementation and dissemination of the TREND guideline has affected reporting completeness in studies with experimental , non-r and omised design s within behavioural and public health research . The project has received ethics approval from the Research Ethics Committee of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry , Universities of Exeter and Plymouth
An increasing number of interventions have some empirical support ; others are emerging as potentially efficacious .
This evidence base up date examines the level of empirical support for interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) younger than 5 years old .