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Table 4 Quality assessment of included studies

From: Educational outcomes of children in contact with social care in England: a systematic review

Criterion

DfE statistical releases (ann.) [13]

Sebba et al. [11]

Henderson et al. [14]

DfE study [12]

Ellison and Hutchinson [16]

O’Higgins [17]

Luke and O’Higgins [18]

1. Was the study research question or objective in this paper clearly stated?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

2. Was the study population clearly specified and defined?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

3. Was the participation rate of eligible persons at least 50%?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

4. Were all the subjects selected or recruited from the same or similar populations (including the same time period)? Were inclusion and exclusion criteria for being in the study prespecified and applied uniformly to all participants?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

5. Was a sample size justification, power description, or variance and effect estimates provided?

No

Yes

Yes

No

NA

No

Yes

6. For the analyses in this paper, were the exposure(s) of interest measured prior to the outcome(s) being measured?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

CD

Yes

Yes

7. Was the timeframe sufficient so that one could reasonably expect to see an association between exposure and outcome if it existed?

CD

CD

CD

CD

NA

CD

CD

8. For exposures that can vary in amount or level, did the study examine different levels of the exposure as related to the outcome (e.g. categories of exposure, or exposure measured as a continuous variable)?

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

9. Were the exposure measures (independent variables) clearly defined, valid, reliable and implemented consistently across all study participants?

Yes

Yes

CD

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

10. Was the exposure(s) assessed more than once over time?

No

No

Yes

No

CD

No

No

11. Were the outcome measures (dependent variables) clearly defined, valid, reliable and implemented consistently across all study participants?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

CD

Yes

Yes

12. Were the outcome assessors blinded to the exposure status of participants?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

13. Was loss to follow-up after baseline 20% or less?

NA

Yes

No

Yes

NA

Yes

Yes

14. Were key potential confounding variables measured and adjusted statistically for their impact on the relationship between exposure(s) and outcome(s)?

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Overall assessment

Fair

Good

Fair

Fair

Poor

Fair

Good

  1. CD cannot determine, NA not applicable