Effectiveness of distance learning strategies for continuing professional development (CPD) for rural allied health practitioners: a systematic review

Table 1 Risk of bias appraisal of included papers

.		Bailey et al. 2005 [30]	Bynum et al. 2010 [31]	Dennis et al. 2010 [32]	DuBose et al. 1997 [27]	Ducat et al. 2014 [20]	Evans & Sachs 2000 [28]	Fahey et al. 2003 [38]	Maloney et al. 2011 [33]	Miller et al. 2008 [39]	Nipp et al. 2014 [35]	Ray et al. 2014 [36]	Shade & Barber 2004 [37]	Steed 2008 [29]	Warugaba et al. 2016 [34]
1	Is there a clearly focused question?	−	+	?	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	−
2	Was there a clear learning need that the intervention addressed?	?	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
3	Was there a clear description of the educational context for the intervention?	−	+	+	+	+	−	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
4	Was the precise nature of the intervention clear?	−	+	+	+	−	−	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
5	Was the study design chosen able to address the aims of the study?	?	+	?	−	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	?	?
6	Were the outcomes chosen to evaluate the intervention appropriate?	?	+	−	+	+	+	+	+	+	−	?	?	+	+
7	Were any other explanations of the results explored by the authors?	−	+	−	+	+	−	−	+	+	−	+	+	−	+
8	Were any unanticipated outcomes explained?	−	+	+	+	+	−	+	+	+	−	+	+	+	−
9	Reported behavioural changes after the intervention linked to measurement of other, more objective measures	−	?	−	−	−	−	+	+	−	+	?	−	−	−
10	Were the results of the intervention clear?*	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	−	+	?	+
11	How precise were the results?	?	+	−	+	+	+	−	+	+	+	−	?	−	−
12	Was the setting sufficiently similar to you own and/or representative of real life?	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	?	−
13	Does it require additional resources to adopt the intervention?	?	+	−	−	−	−	−	−	−	−	−	−	−	−
	Risk of bias score out of 13	2	12	6	10	10	7	10	12	11	9	8	9	6	6

Table key: + low risk of bias;? unclear; − high risk of bias; *question reworded for ease of dichotomous scoring (original question: ‘What were the results of the intervention?’)

ISSN: 1472-6920