Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health, Psychology & Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.
Faculty of Health, Social Care & Medicine, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK.
Res Synth Methods. 2021 Sep;12(5):576-589. doi: 10.1002/jrsm.1502. Epub 2021 Jul 16.
The CLUSTER model of searching was proposed as a systematic method of searching for studies for reviews of complex interventions.
The method has not been evaluated before. This methodological review identified and evaluated a sample of evidence syntheses that have used CLUSTER.
A forward citation search on the seed CLUSTER publication was conducted on Web of Science Core Collection using six journal citation indexes and Google Scholar in December 2020. Reviews which used the CLUSTER method were eligible for inclusion. A narrative synthesis was used to describe the types of evidence syntheses that used CLUSTER searching, the extent to which the CLUSTER approach has been operationalised within evidence syntheses and whether the value, benefits and limitations of CLUSTER were assessed by the reviewers.
A total of 16 reviews were identified and eligible for synthesis. Six different review types that used CLUSTER were identified with realist reviews being the most prominent. The evaluation of complex interventions was the most common review topic area. The use of CLUSTER varied among reviews with the retrieval of sibling studies being the most common reason. 'Citations' and 'Lead authors' were the most followed elements of CLUSTER.
Evidence suggests that CLUSTER has been adopted for use in reviews of complex interventions. Its usage varied among the included reviews. It is imperative that future reviewers diligently report the elements and steps of CLUSTER that were utilised in order to provide a reproducible and transparent search strategy that can be reported with similar transparency to bibliographic database searches.
CLUSTER 搜索模型被提出作为一种系统的研究搜索方法，用于对复杂干预措施进行综述。
该方法以前尚未进行过评估。本方法学综述确定并评估了使用 CLUSTER 的一组证据综合。
于 2020 年 12 月，在 Web of Science 核心合集上对原始的 CLUSTER 出版物进行了正向引文搜索，使用了六个期刊引文索引和 Google Scholar。符合条件的综述为使用 CLUSTER 方法的综述。采用叙述性综合来描述使用 CLUSTER 搜索的证据综合类型、CLUSTER 方法在证据综合中的实施程度，以及综述者是否评估了 CLUSTER 的价值、益处和局限性。
共确定了 16 项符合条件的综述，可进行综合分析。确定了 6 种不同类型的使用 CLUSTER 的综述，其中以现实主义综述最为突出。复杂干预措施的评估是最常见的综述主题领域。CLUSTER 的使用在综述中存在差异，检索姊妹研究是最常见的原因。“引文”和“主要作者”是最遵循 CLUSTER 的元素。
有证据表明 CLUSTER 已被用于复杂干预措施的综述。其在纳入的综述中使用情况存在差异。未来的综述者必须认真报告 CLUSTER 所使用的元素和步骤，以提供可重现和透明的搜索策略，并以类似的透明度报告与文献数据库搜索。
