Background: It is necessary to invest in strategies that allow groups and organizations in charge of developing evidence synthesis to inform clinical or health policy decisions and effectively incorporate new emergent evidence in the development of knowledge transfer (KT) products such as clinical practice guidelines (CPG), health technology assessment (HTA), and structured evidence summaries.
Objectives: To develop and evaluate a capacity-building strategy for health sector organizations to incorporate the living evidence (LE) model in the development of KT products.
Methods: The project was developed in three phases: P1. Definition of a guidance framework; P2. Training in LE strategy and supporting tools; P3. Applying the framework and acquiring knowledge in the development of real-life LE synthesis following the learning-by-doing methodology. Study population: Technical staff working on CPG, developing organizations, HTA agencies, and tertiary hospitals running institutional HTA. The Epistemonikos-L.OVE platform and tools were used as the technological enablers for the LE process. Each component of the capacity-building strategy was evaluated through online anonymous surveys. A final set of in-depth interviews were conducted to evaluate the whole capacity-building strategy used.
Results: Phase 1: Based on methodological articles and brainstorming meetings, we developed a preliminary framework. After its testing among potential users and expert consultation, the final version of the framework was used in the next phases of the project. For phases 2 and 3, we enrolled 21 team members from a total of seven organizations. Six training workshops in the LE methodology and Epistemonikos tools were carried out. Participating organizations’ teams developed a total of seven living evidence syntheses following the framework and using Epistemonikos tools. They maintained the evidence surveillance and related monitoring tasks for at least 8 months, which were reported on a monthly basis and made available at the project website (https://livingevidenceframework.com/en/platform/). Eighty-five percent of participants took part of the online survey and 68% of in-depth interviews to evaluate the capacity-building strategy.
Conclusions: We addressed three basic needs to build a sustainable capacity among groups and organizations for the production and use of LE synthesis: the need for having guidance; for training; and for being supported during the process.
Patient, public and/or healthcare consumer involvement: