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The quality of research on mental health related to the COVID-19 pandemic: A note of caution after a systematic review
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has spurred scientific production in diverse fields of knowledge, including mental health. Yet, the quality of current research may be challenged by the urgent need to provide immediate results to understand and alleviate the consequences of the pandemic. Thi...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Elsevier
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7395946/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32835299 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100123 |
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author | Nieto, Inés Navas, Juan F. Vázquez, Carmelo |
author_facet | Nieto, Inés Navas, Juan F. Vázquez, Carmelo |
author_sort | Nieto, Inés |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND AND AIMS: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has spurred scientific production in diverse fields of knowledge, including mental health. Yet, the quality of current research may be challenged by the urgent need to provide immediate results to understand and alleviate the consequences of the pandemic. This study aims to examine compliance with basic methodological quality criteria and open scientific research practices on the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD AND RESULTS: Twenty-eight studies were identified through a systematic search. Most of them met the requirements related to reporting key methodological and statistical information. However, the widespread use of convenience samples and the lack of a priori power analysis, coupled with low compliance with open science recommendations, such as pre-registration of studies and availability of databases, raise concerns about the validity, generalisability, and reproducibility of the findings. CONCLUSIONS: While the importance of offering rapid evidence-based responses to mitigate mental health problems stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic is undeniable, it should not be done at the expense of sacrificing scientific rigor. The results of this study may stimulate researchers and funding agencies to try to orchestrate efforts and resources and follow standard codes of good scientific practice. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7395946 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Elsevier |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-73959462020-08-03 The quality of research on mental health related to the COVID-19 pandemic: A note of caution after a systematic review Nieto, Inés Navas, Juan F. Vázquez, Carmelo Brain Behav Immun Health Full Length Article BACKGROUND AND AIMS: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has spurred scientific production in diverse fields of knowledge, including mental health. Yet, the quality of current research may be challenged by the urgent need to provide immediate results to understand and alleviate the consequences of the pandemic. This study aims to examine compliance with basic methodological quality criteria and open scientific research practices on the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD AND RESULTS: Twenty-eight studies were identified through a systematic search. Most of them met the requirements related to reporting key methodological and statistical information. However, the widespread use of convenience samples and the lack of a priori power analysis, coupled with low compliance with open science recommendations, such as pre-registration of studies and availability of databases, raise concerns about the validity, generalisability, and reproducibility of the findings. CONCLUSIONS: While the importance of offering rapid evidence-based responses to mitigate mental health problems stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic is undeniable, it should not be done at the expense of sacrificing scientific rigor. The results of this study may stimulate researchers and funding agencies to try to orchestrate efforts and resources and follow standard codes of good scientific practice. Elsevier 2020-08-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7395946/ /pubmed/32835299 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100123 Text en © 2020 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Full Length Article Nieto, Inés Navas, Juan F. Vázquez, Carmelo The quality of research on mental health related to the COVID-19 pandemic: A note of caution after a systematic review |
title | The quality of research on mental health related to the COVID-19 pandemic: A note of caution after a systematic review |
title_full | The quality of research on mental health related to the COVID-19 pandemic: A note of caution after a systematic review |
title_fullStr | The quality of research on mental health related to the COVID-19 pandemic: A note of caution after a systematic review |
title_full_unstemmed | The quality of research on mental health related to the COVID-19 pandemic: A note of caution after a systematic review |
title_short | The quality of research on mental health related to the COVID-19 pandemic: A note of caution after a systematic review |
title_sort | quality of research on mental health related to the covid-19 pandemic: a note of caution after a systematic review |
topic | Full Length Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7395946/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32835299 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100123 |
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