Background: Citizens make many decisions each and every day. Some are personal decisions for themselves or their families, whereas others are decisions related to their community, their country, or the world. In January 2022, the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges released a report.(1) Two recommendations in particular speak directly to the impact of evidence on citizens: 1) help citizens use evidence to inform both personal decisions and decisions related to their community, their country, and the world; and 2) address the spread of false, inaccurate, and misleading information (also called ‘misinformation’), which can lead to bad decisions and harmful consequences. These recommendations are in perfect alignment with Cochrane’s goals of producing trusted evidence, advocating for evidence, and informing healthcare decisions.
Objectives: This interactive workshop aims to support a discussion about ‘putting evidence at the centre of everyday life,’ including:
• the challenges in using evidence in everyday life;
• possible solutions to address these challenges; and
• potential barriers and facilitators to move forward with these solutions. The workshop will also be an opportunity to explore how to promote, contribute to, and/or lead efforts to put evidence at the centre of everyday life (keeping in mind the importance of a global lens and the challenges/opportunities present in different contexts).
Description: The workshop will consist of a short presentation to prompt discussion, followed by small-group and plenary discussions. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to share their insights about how the challenges can be experienced locally and globally. Each small group will be asked to tackle a potential strategy to put evidence at the centre of everyday life, discussing whether and how it is relevant to their context and how it could be operationalized. These may include strategies to: - help citizens judge what others are claiming or more generally find (and receive) reliable information; - make evidence available to citizens when they are making choices; - engage citizens in asking questions and answering them (with new research or with existing evidence); and - make evidence-based choices the default or easy option.