Review

Great shakes!

USING RESEARCH FOR EFFECTIVE HEALTH PROMOTION
Edited by Sandy Oliver and Greet Peersman
Open University Press, 2001, £16.99

Three years ago, reviewing a book on effective health promotion for this very journal, I was bemoaning the fact that the Cochrane Collaboration was merely referred to in passing while evidence based healthcare was not mentioned at all. Knowing of the activities of the EPPI-Centre (Evidence-informed Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre) at the Social Science Research Unit, University of London in appraising and systematically reviewing the evidence base of health promotion, it was clear then that there was still a book waiting to be written. This is that book!

Edited by Sandy Oliver, herself with an extensive pedigree in critical appraisal and systematic reviews, and Greet Peersman, a visiting fellow involved in reviews of HIV prevention and care, this book is very much a product of the EPPI-Centre.

Despite being a multi-author work, the tight focus of EPPI-Centre activities yields unexpected cohesion to the topics covered by this volume. The authors manage to perform in harmony without necessarily having to sing from the same song sheet. The editorial touch is apparently light, allowing a different feel to each chapter yet ensuring that the four sections on Theory, Practical, Application and Advances integrate almost effortlessly.

Particularly strong was the way in which the chapters on systematic searching and systematic reviews from the Practical section are complemented by an illustrative case study, ‘The fine detail: conducting a systematic review’ (Chapter 8) in the Application section. Too often books on research methods either promulgate the ideal or describe the reality. In this particular case we are given a vision of what researchers aspire to along with a healthy dose of actuality.

And yet, we must ask, with no shortage of books on appraising and reviewing research, is there a need for a specialist text on health promotion? The answer is an unqualified yes. While much of the methodology may be common to other types of review, the specific health promotion and user involvement slant of this work makes it unique. So the team from EPPI-Centre certainly made the earth move for me.