Assessing the reporting quality of physical activity programs in randomized controlled trials for the management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis using three standardized assessment tools.

Background: The reporting quality of physical activity (PA) programs in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for the management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) remains unknown. This study aimed to assess and compare the reporting quality of PA programs in RCTs for the management of JIA using three difference standardized assessment tools, and to describe the elements that were similar and different between these tools.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted for moderate-to high-quality RCTs of PA programs in JIA, published up until January 2019.

Strategies to increase the ownership and use of insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria.

Background: Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease and 40% of the world's population lives in areas affected by malaria. Insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) effectively prevent malaria, however, barriers to their use have been identified.

Objectives: To assess the evidence on the effectiveness of available strategies that focus on delivery and appropriate use of ITNs.

Programs to increase high school completion: a community guide systematic health equity review.

Context: High school completion (HSC) is an established predictor of long-term morbidity and mortality. U.S.

Complex interventions and their implications for systematic reviews: A pragmatic approach.

Complex interventions present unique challenges for systematic reviews. Current debates tend to center around describing complexity, rather than providing guidance on what to do about it. At a series of meetings during 2009-2012, we met to review the challenges and practical steps reviewer could take to incorporate a complexity perspective into systematic reviews.

Complex interventions and their implications for systematic reviews: a pragmatic approach.

Complex interventions present unique challenges for systematic reviews. Current debates tend to center around describing complexity, rather than providing guidance on what to do about it. At a series of meetings during 2009-2012, we met to review the challenges and practical steps reviewer could take to incorporate a complexity perspective into systematic reviews.

An equity lens can ensure an equity-oriented approach to agenda setting and priority setting of Cochrane Reviews.

Objectives: This study aimed to develop and pilot an equity lens that could help researchers in developing a more equity-oriented approach toward priority setting and agenda setting in systematic reviews.

Study Design And Setting: We developed an equity lens to guide the development and evaluation of a prioritization process and evaluate its outcomes based on the information derived from a discussion workshop and a comparison with the existing literature on the topic. We piloted the process section of the equity lens across the 13 structured priority-setting approaches in the Cochrane Collaboration.

Prevention and self-management interventions are top priorities for osteoarthritis systematic reviews.

Objective: To identify high-priority research questions for osteoarthritis systematic reviews with consideration of health equity and the social determinants of health (SDH).

Study Design And Setting: We consulted with experts and conducted a literature search to identify a priority-setting method that could be adapted to address the health equity and SDH. We selected the Global Evidence Mapping priority-setting method, and through consultations and consensus, we adapted the method to meet our objectives.

Ensuring relevance for Cochrane reviews: evaluating processes and methods for prioritizing topics for Cochrane reviews.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the presence and effectiveness of existing systems of prioritization for Cochrane review topics and to explore methods of improving those systems.

Study Design And Setting: We surveyed groups of Cochrane review authors and recorded any evidence of their use of priority-setting processes or policies. To evaluate the effectiveness of the policies we encountered, we assessed them using two frameworks from the literature: "Accountability for Reasonableness" (1) and Sibbald's 2009 framework (2) for successful priority setting.

Does consideration and assessment of effects on health equity affect the conclusions of systematic reviews? A methodology study.

Introduction: Tackling health inequities both within and between countries remains high on the agenda of international organizations including the World Health Organization and local, regional and national governments. Systematic reviews can be a useful tool to assess effects on equity in health status because they include studies conducted in a variety of settings and populations. This study aims to describe the extent to which the impacts of health interventions on equity in health status are considered in systematic reviews, describe methods used, and assess the implications of their equity related findings for policy, practice and research.

Influencing health equity: role of the effective consumer scale in measuring skills and abilities in a middle income country.

The 2008 World Health Report emphasizes the need for patient-centered primary care service delivery models in which patients are equal partners in the planning and management of their health. It is argued that this involvement will lead to improved management of disease, improved health outcomes and patient satisfaction, better informed decision-making, increased compliance with healthcare decisions, and better resource utilization. This article investigates the domains captured by the Effective Consumer Scale (EC-17) in relation to vulnerable population groups that experience health inequity.

Health literacy: what is it and why is it important to measure?

This report summarizes the proceedings of the first Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials (OMERACT) Health Literacy Special Interest Group workshop at the OMERACT 10 conference. Health literacy refers to an individual's capacity to seek, understand, and use health information. Discussion centered on the relevance of health literacy to the rheumatology field; whether measures of health literacy were important in the context of clinical trials and routine care; and, if so, whether disease-specific measures were required.

Domains selection for patient-reported outcomes: current activities and options for future methods.

Introduction: Over the years, Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials (OMERACT) has worked toward consensus on core sets for outcome measurement in specific rheumatologic diseases. OMERACT core sets refer to the minimum number of domains and instruments essential to address the desired outcomes in trials. "Domains" are the attributes of an activity or function.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't: subgroup analysis and equity.

The final report from the WHO Commission on the social determinants of health recently noted: 'For policy, however important an ethical imperative, values alone are insufficient. There needs to be evidence on what can be done and what is likely to work in practice to improve health and reduce health inequities.' This is challenging, because understanding how to reduce health inequities between the poorest and better-off members of society may require a greater use of subgroup analysis to explore the differential effects of public health interventions.

Using logic models to capture complexity in systematic reviews.

Logic models have long been used to understand complex programs to improve social and health outcomes. They illustrate how a program is designed to achieve its intended outcomes. They also can be used to describe connections between determinants of outcomes, for example, low high-school graduation rates or spiraling obesity rates, thus aiding the development of interventions that target causal factors.

How effects on health equity are assessed in systematic reviews of interventions.

Background: Enhancing health equity has now achieved international political importance with endorsement from the World Health Assembly in 2009.  The failure of systematic reviews to consider effects on health equity is cited by decision-makers as a limitation to their ability to inform policy and program decisions. 

Objectives: To systematically review methods to assess effects on health equity in systematic reviews of effectiveness.

Reaching those most in need: a scoping review of interventions to improve health care quality for disadvantaged populations with osteoarthritis.

Objective: To conduct a systematic review to identify and describe the scope and nature of the research evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to improve health care quality or reduce disparities in the care of disadvantaged populations with osteoarthritis (OA) as an example of a common chronic disease.

Methods: We searched electronic databases from 1950 through February 2010 and grey literature for relevant articles using any study design. Studies with interventions designed explicitly to improve health care quality or reduce disparities in the care of disadvantaged adult populations with OA and including an evaluation were eligible.

Tuberculosis: evidence review for newly arriving immigrants and refugees.

Background: The foreign-born population bears a disproportionate health burden from tuberculosis, with a rate of active tuberculosis 20 times that of the non-Aboriginal Canadian-born population, and could therefore benefit from tuberculosis screening programs. We reviewed evidence to determine the burden of tuberculosis in immigrant populations, to assess the effectiveness of screening and treatment programs for latent tuberculosis infection, and to identify potential interventions to improve effectiveness.

Methods: We performed a systematic search for evidence of the burden of tuberculosis in immigrant populations and the benefits and harms, applicability, clinical considerations, and implementation issues of screening and treatment programs for latent tuberculosis infection in the general and immigrant populations.

Evaluation of evidence-based literature and formulation of recommendations for the clinical preventive guidelines for immigrants and refugees in Canada.

Background: This article describes the evidence review and guideline development method developed for the Clinical Preventive Guidelines for Immigrants and Refugees in Canada by the Canadian Collaboration for Immigrant and Refugee Health Guideline Committee.

Methods: The Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) best-practice framework was combined with the recently developed Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach to produce evidence-based clinical guidelines for immigrants and refugees in Canada.

Results: A systematic approach was designed to produce the evidence reviews and apply the GRADE approach, including building on evidence from previous systematic reviews, searching for and comparing evidence between general and specific immigrant populations, and applying the GRADE criteria for making recommendations.

Progress on incorporating the patient perspective in outcome assessment in rheumatology and the emergence of life impact measures at OMERACT 9.

The Patient Perspective Workshop included over 100 researchers and 18 patient participants from 8 countries. Following preconference reading and short plenary presentations, breakout groups considered work undertaken on measurement of sleep, assessing interventions to develop the effective consumer, and assessing psychological and educational interventions. The workshop explored the best way to identify other outcome domains (and instruments) that should be measured in observational or interventional studies with broader intentions than simply altering outcomes captured in the traditional "core set" plus fatigue.

Equity-oriented toolkit for health technology assessment and knowledge translation: application to scaling up of training and education for health workers.

Human resources for health are in crisis worldwide, especially in economically disadvantaged areas and areas with high rates of HIV/AIDS in both health workers and patients. International organizations such as the Global Health Workforce Alliance have been established to address this crisis. A technical working group within the Global Health Workforce Alliance developed recommendations for scaling up education and training of health workers.