Adding Standards and Procedures to the Prevention Services Clearinghouse Handbook on the Transparency, Openness, and Reproducibility of Research on Programs and Services to Enhance Support for Children and Families and Prevent Foster Care Placements

The credibility of Prevention Services Clearinghouse designations of programs and services as “promising,” “supported,” and “well supported” are threatened by the prevalence of questionable research practices (e.g., selective non-reporting of results) in the bodies of evidence that the Clearinghouse reviews. Internationally accepted standards for reporting and interpreting the results of systematic reviews of evidence—including the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)—recommend that reviews take steps to mitigate bias associated with these questionable research practices. Moreover, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policies require that contractors and grantees engage in transparent, open, and reproducible research. We propose that the Clearinghouse adopt standards to mitigate the effects of these questionable research practices, which would be consistent with international guidelines and with complementary HHS policies and procedures.