Students 4 Best Evidence is a blogging network by students, for students, who are interested in evidence-based healthcare.
Latest Articles
The impact of language on people living with long-term conditions: having the rug pulled out from underneath you
In this blog for anyone affected by, or interested in, long-term conditions, Anne Cooper, a person with Type 1 Diabetes, Bob Swindell, a person with Type 2 Diabetes, and Cathy Lloyd, Professor of Health Studies at the Open University, explore the impact language can have on people who live with a long-term condition, including helpful tips for healthcare professionals for choosing helpful and appropriate language.
Living with a long-term condition: five perspectives – part 2
In the second part of a two-part blog for our special series on living with long-term conditions, Brian Devlin, Ceri Dare, Genna White and Olivia Fulton, the four Cochrane UK Consumer Champions, and Emma Doble, Cochrane UK’s Patient and Consumer Coordinator, reflect on making treatment decisions, what they want healthcare professionals to know, and what they would tell their younger selves.
Living with a long-term condition: five perspectives – part 1
In the first part of a two-part blog for our special series on living with long-term conditions, Ceri Dare, Brian Devlin, Olivia Fulton and Genna White, the four Cochrane UK Consumer Champions, and Emma Doble, Cochrane UK’s Patient and Consumer Co-ordinator, reflect on the daily burden of work that comes with living with a long-term condition, how they’ve managed during the pandemic, and sources of information and support they find useful.
Balancing diabetes and pregnancy: the keys are shared decision-making and technology
Emma Doble, who lives with Type 1 Diabetes and gave birth for the first time in 2020, reflects on her pregnancy journey, highlighting the importance of technology and shared decisions-making, and calling for better postnatal care for women with diabetes.
Contemplating pregnancy with long-term health conditions
In this blog, written for women, health professionals, policy makers and commissioners, Rachel Plachcinski and Ngawai Moss discuss the lack of evidence for planning pregnancy and maternity care for women with two or more long term health conditions. They explore women’s experiences through their pregnancy journeys: identifying challenges and gaps in understanding, plus what matters to women during pregnancy when living with long term health conditions.
Stopping antidepressants: what is the best way to come off them?
In this blog for patients and doctors, Dr Mark Horowitz, training psychiatrist and Clinical Research Fellow at University College London, looks at the latest Cochrane evidence on how to safely stop antidepressants and explores the implications for patients and doctors having to navigate this area so neglected by medical researchers. Mark’s personal experience of the difficulty in coming off antidepressants led to an interest in the little-understood field of stopping psychiatric medication, and the balance of harms and benefits.
Living with long-term conditions: a Cochrane UK special series
Throughout June, we are shining a spotlight on living with long-term conditions, sharing blogs that include relevant evidence and personal reflections. The series will also include a discussion on Twitter about the impact language can have on people with long-term conditions.
Quitting smoking: which types of behavioural support work best to help people stop?
In this blog for health practitioners and people wanting to quit smoking, Cochrane authors Annika Theodoulou and Dr Jamie Hartmann Boyce look at the latest Cochrane evidence on what types of behavioural support can best help people quit tobacco smoking.
Pessaries for pelvic organ prolapse – looking at the Cochrane evidence
In this blog for both women with prolapse and healthcare professionals, Myra Robson, a pelvic health physiotherapist, looks at the latest Cochrane evidence on pessaries for pelvic organ prolapse and explores its impact on our clinical practice.
Can walking help lower your blood pressure? The latest Cochrane evidence
In this blog for people with normal or high blood pressure (hypertension), Dr Rebecca Gould, Cochrane UK Fellow and Sport and Exercise Medicine Registrar, looks at the latest Cochrane evidence on walking for lowering blood pressure.
Experiencing Evidently Cochrane blogs: uncertainty, suffering and solidarity
Recently, Cochrane UK undertook some qualitative work to explore what the comments posted on Evidently Cochrane blogs might tell us about what readers get from our blogs. In this blog, the Editors of Evidently Cochrane, Sarah Chapman and Selena Ryan-Vig, and qualitative researcher Fran Toye, talk about the methods they used, the insights they gained, and the subsequent changes made to the blogs to make them more useful to readers.
Dental check-ups: how often is often enough?
In this blog for anyone wondering how often they should have a dental check-up, and primary care dentists, Patrick Fee, leading author of an updated Cochrane Review on dental check-up frequency, discusses the latest evidence and what it means in practice.