Background: The results of Cochrane Reviews are packaged and presented in many different ways, including through tweets, podcasts, plain language summaries, and journal reports. Regardless of product type, media, or audience, all dissemination products should ideally provide a reasonable representation of the evidence, as well as a good user experience.
Objectives: Cochrane’s Dissemination Checklist aims to improve the quality and consistency of dissemination products and to improve communication with non-experts (i.e., people not familiar with systematic review methodology).
Methods: Development of the checklist was led by Cochrane Norway with support from an advisory board. We conducted a literature search and framework analysis and then went through several cycles of feedback and revision. Results/
Conclusions: Cochrane’s dissemination checklist is a tool for anyone preparing a dissemination product to share the results of a Cochrane intervention review. The checklist is aimed at people creating dissemination products that present review findings. If you are building awareness about a review without presenting the findings, you might find some helpful tips here as well. You can use this guidance when you plan the dissemination of a Cochrane review, create a dissemination product, or create or improve a dissemination product template. The checklist covers a range of issues, including considering and involving your target audience in your dissemination product, ensuring a reasonable representation of the evidence, using plain language, structure and readability, connecting with people, and ensuring transparency and building trust. There are three layers to the checklist and guidance: 1. A one-page overview of the checklist. 2. The checklist with a brief description of what each checklist item means and a set of minimum expectations. 3. Full guidance, with examples and references. This layer includes the information you need to fully apply each checklist item. The checklist was first made available in 2021 and is available here: https://training.cochrane.org/online-learning/knowledge-translation/how-share-cochrane-evidence/dissemination-essentials-checklist. At the link, you can also find a series of videos that walk you through the checklist. Patient, public, and/or healthcare consumer involvement: The checklist includes guidance regarding how you should consider and involve your target audience in your dissemination product.