Publications by authors named "Cameron D Willis"

Background: There is considerable theoretical appeal and investment in intersectoral partnerships for chronic disease prevention, yet there is limited understanding of pathways for creating collaborative value.

Objectives: The purpose of this paper was to discuss the Collaborative Value Creation Framework in terms of its potential to understand how value is created in prevention partnerships.

Results: The framework holds promise for a) studying the significance of all types of collaborative value and in what contexts, b) examining how sources of collaborative value can be enhanced, c) surfacing how mindsets advance or hinder collaborative efforts, and d) establishing interdependent links with and between other elements of the framework such as collaborative processes, stages, and outcomes to increase value creation potential.

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Background: Knowledge syntheses that use a realist methodology are gaining popularity. Yet, there are few reports in the literature that describe how results are summarised, shared and used. This paper aims to inform knowledge translation (KT) for realist reviews by describing the process of developing a KT strategy for a review on pathways for scaling up complex public health interventions.

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Background: Middle ear disease (otitis media) is endemic among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia and represents an important cause of hearing loss. The disease is the result of a mix of biological, environmental and host risk factors that interact in complex, non-linear ways along a dynamic continuum. As such, it is generally recognised that a holistic, systems approach is required to reverse the high rates of otitis media in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

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Preventing chronic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, requires complex interventions, involving multi-component and multi-level efforts that are tailored to the contexts in which they are delivered. Despite an increasing number of complex interventions in public health, many fail to be 'scaled up'. This study aimed to increase understanding of how and under what conditions complex public health interventions may be scaled up to benefit more people and populations.

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Multi-sectoral partnerships are important parts of many public health efforts to address chronic diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Despite the potential value of multi-sectoral approaches, uncertainty exists regarding their effects on individuals, organizations, communities and populations. This article reports on a study that examined the unanticipated effects (both positive and negative) of the Public Health Agency of Canada's (the Agency) Multi-sectoral Partnerships initiative, which supports more than 30 multi-sectoral partnership projects across Canada.

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Purpose: The questions addressed by this review are: first, what are the guiding principles underlying efforts to stimulate sustained cultural change; second, what are the mechanisms by which these principles operate; and, finally, what are the contextual factors that influence the likelihood of these principles being effective? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a literature review informed by rapid realist review methodology that examined how interventions interact with contexts and mechanisms to influence the sustainability of cultural change. Reference and expert panelists assisted in refining the research questions, systematically searching published and grey literature, and helping to identify interactions between interventions, mechanisms and contexts.

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This article describes the role of interorganizational networks in chronic disease prevention and an action research agenda for promoting understanding and improvement. Through a model of engaged scholarship, leaders with expertise and experience in chronic disease prevention networks helped shape research directions focused on network value, governance, and evolution. The guiding principles for facilitating this research include applying existing knowledge, developing network-appropriate methods and measures, creating structural change, promoting an impact orientation, and fostering cultural change.

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Objective: To describe the nature and frequency of information presented on direct-to-consumer websites for emerging breast cancer imaging devices.

Design: Content analysis of Australian website advertisements from 2 March 2011 to 30 March 2012, for three emerging breast cancer imaging devices: digital infrared thermal imaging, electrical impedance scanning and electronic palpation imaging.

Main Outcome Measures: Type of imaging offered, device safety, device performance, application of device, target population, supporting evidence and comparator tests.

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Background: Using measles and tuberculosis as case examples, with a systems thinking approach, this study examines the human advice-seeking behavior of primary health care (PHC) physicians in a rural district of Pakistan. This study analyzes the degree to which the existing PHC system supports their access to human advice, and explores in what ways this system might be strengthened to better meet provider needs.

Methods: The study was conducted in a rural district of Pakistan and, with a cross-sectional study design, it employed a range of research methods, namely extensive document review for mapping existing information systems, social network analysis of physicians' advice-seeking practice, and key stakeholder interviews for an in-depth understanding of the experience of physicians.

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Interorganizational networks that harness the priorities, capacities, and skills of various agencies and individuals have emerged as useful approaches for strengthening preventive services in public health systems. We use examples from the Canadian Heart Health Initiative and Alberta's Primary Care Networks to illustrate characteristics of networks, describe the limitations of existing frameworks for assessing the performance of prevention-oriented networks, and propose a research agenda for guiding future efforts to improve the performance of these initiatives. Prevention-specific assessment strategies that capture relevant aspects of network performance need to be identified, and feedback mechanisms are needed that make better use of these data to drive change in network activities.

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Background: A realist synthesis attempts to provide policy makers with a transferable theory that suggests a certain program is more or less likely to work in certain respects, for particular subjects, in specific kinds of situations. Yet realist reviews can require considerable and sustained investment over time, which does not always suit the time-sensitive demands of many policy decisions. 'Rapid Realist Review' methodology (RRR) has been developed as a tool for applying a realist approach to a knowledge synthesis process in order to produce a product that is useful to policy makers in responding to time-sensitive and/or emerging issues, while preserving the core elements of realist methodology.

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The objective of this study aimed to systematically identify and evaluate all the available evidence of safety, effectiveness and diagnostic accuracy for three emerging classes of technology promoted for breast cancer screening and diagnosis: Digital infrared thermal imaging (DITI), electrical impedance scanning (EIS) and elastography. A systematic search of seven biomedical databases (EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, CRD, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Current Contents Connect) was conducted through March 2011, along with a manual search of reference lists from relevant studies. The principal outcome measures were safety, effectiveness, and diagnostic accuracy.

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Objective: To develop and apply a novel method for scanning a range of sources to identify existing health care services (excluding pharmaceuticals) that have questionable benefit, and produce a list of services that warrant further investigation.

Design And Setting: A multiplatform approach to identifying services listed on the Australian Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS; fee-for-service) that comprised: (i) a broad search of peer-reviewed literature on the PubMed search platform; (ii) a targeted analysis of databases such as the Cochrane Library and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) "do not do" recommendations; and (iii) opportunistic sampling, drawing on our previous and ongoing work in this area, and including nominations from clinical and non-clinical stakeholder groups.

Main Outcome Measures: Non-pharmaceutical, MBS-listed health care services that were flagged as potentially unsafe, ineffective or otherwise inappropriately applied.

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Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine how evidence from systematic review (SR) is perceived and negotiated by expert stakeholders in considering a technology for potential disinvestment.

Methods: An evidence-informed stakeholder engagement examined results from a diagnostic accuracy SR of vitamin B12 and folate tests. Pathologists deliberated around the SR findings to generate an informed contribution to future policy for the funding of B12 and folate tests.

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Background: Health system transformations are influenced by dynamic relationships within and between individuals and institutions, as well as political, educational and legislative factors. This article aims to promote awareness of five tools that recognise this complexity and that are proposed to have value for decision makers: concept mapping, social network analysis, system dynamics modelling, programme budgeting and marginal analysis, and the tools for knowledge management and translation.

Methods: The authors briefly describe the methodological approach of each tool, provide a commentary on the conditions in which these tools have been employed, and discuss their impact on the processes and outcomes of system transformation.

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Objective: At the time of licensing by regulatory agencies, the full range of risks and possible adverse drug reactions associated with a medication is rarely fully realized. This commentary aims to describe the role of registries as useful components of postmarketing pharmacovigilance systems for monitoring highly specialized medications associated with significant financial costs.

Study Design And Setting: We consider the limitations of traditional pharmacovigilance programs and discuss the strengths, limitations, and uses of registries in postmarketing pharmacovigilance systems.

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Objective: Health policy relating to assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has been variably informed by clinical evidence, social values, political and fiscal considerations. This systematic review examined key factors associated with specific benefits and harms of ART to inform the development of a model for generating policy recommendations within an Australian disinvestment research agenda.

Methods: Six databases were searched from 1994 to 2009.

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Aims: Serum cobalamin (cbl, vitamin B(12)) tests are routinely ordered for investigating conditions potentially amenable to cbl supplementation. This study aimed to systematically assess the evidence of diagnostic accuracy for serum cbl tests across patient subgroups.

Methods: Seven medical databases were searched (1990 to November 2009).

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Objective: Assessing the reliability of clinical registries is important for ensuring the availability of credible data. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the reliability of data collected by the Australian and New Zealand Haemostasis Registry (the registry).

Design: Data from 5% of randomly selected registry cases were re-abstracted by an independent data auditor who was blinded to the results of the original data abstraction.

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Background: The International Classification of Diseases Injury Severity Score (ICISS) has been proposed as an International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10-based alternative to mortality prediction tools that use Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) data, including the Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS). To date, studies have not examined the performance of ICISS using Australian trauma registry data. This study aimed to compare the performance of ICISS with other mortality prediction tools in an Australian trauma registry.

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Background: To investigate the association between a number of hospital level composite index methodologies developed from trauma indicators with inhospital mortality.

Methods: Data from January 2001 to December 2006 were extracted from the Victorian State Trauma Registry (Australia) and the Trauma Audit and Research Network (United Kingdom). Three composite methods were explored, including two denominator-based weight approaches and a factor analysis technique.

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Objective: Quality indicators (QIs) are routinely used in health systems, often on the assumption that they provide a valid reflection of the outcome of care. This study investigated the construct validity of 14 trauma QIs through their ability to identify patients at risk of poor outcomes, including increased mortality, longer lengths of stay and greater use of the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: Data were analysed from the Victorian State Trauma Registry from January 2001 to March 2006.

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It is no longer sufficient for health care professionals to provide high quality health care, they must also be able to demonstrate that they are meeting and often exceeding quality targets. Quality indicators (QIs) provide a means of measuring and assessing quality, however there are advantages and disadvantages of indicator measurement. Further, the clinical perspective needs to be balanced against managerial control when developing valid, reliable, sensitive and specific QIs.

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