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Intervention for children with developmental coordination disorder: How robust is our recent evidence?

Motohide Miyahara1, Malgorzata Lagisz2, Shinichi Nakagawa2

  • 1Department of Neuropsychiatry, School of Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan.

Child: Care, Health and Development
|March 14, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Despite more reviews on interventions for children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), quality is a concern. Methodological flaws mean claims about intervention effects lack reliability.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Evidence-Based Practice

Background:

  • Systematic and meta-analytical reviews are crucial for evaluating interventions for children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD).
  • The number of such reviews has significantly increased since 2015, prompting an assessment of their quality.
  • This meta-review specifically examines eight new reviews published between 2015 and 2019.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the quality of eight recent systematic and meta-analytical reviews on interventions for children with DCD.
  • To assess the consistency of inclusion criteria, coverage of primary studies, and the quality of evidence used in these reviews.
  • To determine if the increase in the quantity of reviews corresponds to an improvement in their methodological quality.

Main Methods:

  • The study employed a meta-review approach to analyze eight selected review articles.
  • Methodological quality of the included reviews was assessed using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews, Second Edition (AMSTAR 2) tool.
  • Key evaluation criteria included consistency of inclusion criteria, coverage of primary studies, and the quality of evidence underpinning conclusions.

Main Results:

  • Significant variability was observed among the eight reviews regarding inclusion criteria, primary evidence sources, and evidence quality.
  • Only one review met an acceptably high standard of overall methodology according to AMSTAR 2 criteria; the others exhibited serious flaws.
  • The conclusions drawn across the reviewed studies were inconsistent, likely due to methodological differences.

Conclusions:

  • An increase in the number of reviews on interventions for children with DCD has not been matched by a sufficient improvement in quality.
  • Persistent methodological issues in these reviews undermine confidence in reported intervention effects.
  • Further research is needed to ensure the reliability and validity of evidence regarding interventions for DCD.
Abstract

Keywords:
developmental coordination disordereffect of interventionmeta or umbrella reviewsystematic review with or without meta-analysis

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