Premium
Meta‐analyses in alcohol and other drug abuse treatment research
Author(s) -
Wilson David B.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1046/j.1360-0443.95.11s3.9.x
Subject(s) - meta analysis , extant taxon , psychology , alcohol abuse , strengths and weaknesses , substance abuse , medicine , management science , psychiatry , social psychology , engineering , evolutionary biology , biology
Meta‐analysis is a quantitative method of synthesizing empirical evidence across a collection of related studies and addresses many of the weaknesses of traditional narrative forms of reviewing. This paper describes the basic methods for conducting a state‐of‐the‐art meta‐analysis and criticizes 11 extant meta‐analyses of alcohol and other drug abuse treatment programs. Eight of these 11 meta‐analyses used questionable methods and contributed little to our understanding of the effects of these programs. The paper concludes with a proposal for an archive of alcohol and other drug services research to facilitate and improve the quality of future meta‐analyses.