A comparison of a vote count and a meta-analysis review of intervention research with adult cancer patients

Objective:This study compares the utility of two methods of knowledge utili zation in social work intervention: vote count review and meta-analysis. Me thods: Using the two methods, the authors reviewed 40 intervention studies with adult cancer patients that used treatment techniques common in social work. The common research question was, which treatments are the most effec tive with cancer patients, differentiated by disease phase and type of diag nosis? Results: By both methods of review, interventions were shown to be m ost common and effective at the treatment phase, and cognitive-behavioral m ethods showed the most consistently positive effects. Correlations between the vote count and meta-analysis results showed that the outcome score give n in the vote count was very strongly correlated with the average effect si ze from the meta-analysis. Conclusions: Vote count is a relatively simple m ethod of knowledge utilization, whereas meta-analysis requires careful expl anation of the discretionary steps taken in analysis.