Defining decision thresholds for judgments on health benefits and harms using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Evidence to Decision (EtD) frameworks: a randomised methodological study (GRADE-THRESHOLD).

Introduction: GRADE and other Evidence to Decision (EtD) frameworks are widely used by guideline development groups (GDG) and other decision-makers. When GDGs judge the magnitude of desirable and undesirable health outcomes on EtDs, they typically categorize them as trivial, small, moderate or large. However, generic judgment or decision thresholds (DTs) that could guide the user about such estimates of effect size or serve as references for interpretation of findings are not yet available.

Protocol: Assessing the impact of interest-holder engagement on guideline development: A systematic review.

This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The objectives are as follows. The objective of this review is to identify and synthesize empirical research on the impacts of interest-holder engagement on the guideline development process and content.

GRADE guidance 39: using GRADE-ADOLOPMENT to adopt, adapt or create contextualized recommendations from source guidelines and evidence syntheses.

Background And Objective: The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE)-ADOLOPMENT methodology has been widely used to adopt, adapt, or de novo develop recommendations from existing or new guideline and evidence synthesis efforts. The objective of this guidance is to refine the operationalization for applying GRADE-ADOLOPMENT.

Methods: Through iterative discussions, online meetings, and email communications, the GRADE-ADOLOPMENT project group drafted the updated guidance.

Predictors of COVID-19 vaccine acceptability among refugees and other migrant populations: A systematic scoping review.

Objective: This study aimed to map the existing literature to identify predictors of COVID-19 vaccine acceptability among refugees, immigrants, and other migrant populations.

Methods: A systematic search of Medline, Embase, Scopus, APA PsycInfo and Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) was conducted up to 31 January 2023 to identify the relevant English peer-reviewed observational studies. Two independent reviewers screened abstracts, selected studies, and extracted data.

From struggle to strength in African and Middle Eastern newcomers' integration stories to Canada: A participatory health equity research study.

Background And Objectives: Newcomers (immigrants, refugees, and international students) face many personal, gender, cultural, environmental and health system barriers when integrating into a new society. These struggles can affect their health and social care, reducing access to mental health care. This study explores the lived experiences of African and Middle Eastern newcomers to Ontario, Canada.

Mobile apps to reduce depressive symptoms and alcohol use in youth: A systematic review and meta-analysis: A systematic review.

Background: Among youth, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and alcohol use are associated with considerable illness and disability. Youth face many personal and health system barriers in accessing mental health care. Mobile applications (apps) offer youth potentially accessible, scalable, and anonymous therapy and other support.

A multimethods randomized trial found that plain language versions improved adults understanding of health recommendations.

Objectives: To make informed decisions, the general population should have access to accessible and understandable health recommendations. To compare understanding, accessibility, usability, satisfaction, intention to implement, and preference of adults provided with a digital "Plain Language Recommendation" (PLR) format vs. the original "Standard Language Version" (SLV).

Operationalizing the GRADE-equity criterion to inform guideline recommendations: application to a medical cannabis guideline.

Objectives: Incorporating health equity considerations into guideline development often requires information beyond that gathered through traditional evidence synthesis methodology. This article outlines an operationalization plan for the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE)-equity criterion to gather and assess evidence from primary studies within systematic reviews, enhancing guideline recommendations to promote equity. We demonstrate its use in a clinical guideline on medical cannabis for chronic pain.

Equity issues rarely addressed in the development of COVID-19 formal recommendations and good practice statements: a cross-sectional study.

Background And Objective: To identify COVID-19 actionable statements (e.g., recommendations) focused on specific disadvantaged populations in the living map of COVID-19 recommendations (eCOVIDRecMap) and describe how health equity was assessed in the development of the formal recommendations.

Plain Language vs Standard Format for Youth Understanding of COVID-19 Recommendations: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: To ensure that youths can make informed decisions about their health, it is important that health recommendations be presented for understanding by youths.

Objective: To compare understanding, accessibility, usability, satisfaction, intention to implement, and preference of youths provided with a digital plain language recommendation (PLR) format vs the original standard language version (SLV) of a health recommendation.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This pragmatic, allocation-concealed, blinded, superiority randomized clinical trial included individuals from any country who were 15 to 24 years of age, had internet access, and could read and understand English.

Protocol for the development of guidance for collaborator and partner engagement in health care evidence syntheses.

Background: Involving collaborators and partners in research may increase relevance and uptake, while reducing health and social inequities. Collaborators and partners include people and groups interested in health research: health care providers, patients and caregivers, payers of health research, payers of health services, publishers, policymakers, researchers, product makers, program managers, and the public. Evidence syntheses inform decisions about health care services, treatments, and practice, which ultimately affect health outcomes.

A multimethods randomized trial found that plain language versions improved parents' understanding of health recommendations.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of plain language compared with standard language versions of COVID-19 recommendations specific to child health.

Study Design And Setting: Pragmatic, allocation-concealed, blinded, superiority randomized controlled trial with nested qualitative component. Trial was conducted online, internationally.

Realist review of community coalitions and outreach interventions to increase access to primary care for vulnerable populations: a realist review.

Background: There are meaningful gaps in equitable access to Primary Health Care (PHC), especially for vulnerable populations after widespread reforms in Western countries. The Innovative Models Promoting Access-to-Care Transformation (IMPACT) research program is a Canadian-Australian collaboration that aims to improve access to PHC for vulnerable populations. Relationships were developed with stakeholders in six regions across Canada and Australia where access-related needs could be identified.

Key issues for stakeholder engagement in the development of health and healthcare guidelines.

Established in 2015, the Multi-Stakeholder Engagement (MuSE) Consortium is an international network of over 120 individuals interested in stakeholder engagement in research and guidelines. The MuSE group is developing guidance for stakeholder engagement in the development of health and healthcare guideline development. The development of this guidance has included multiple meetings with stakeholders, including patients, payers/purchasers of health services, peer review editors, policymakers, program managers, providers, principal investigators, product makers, the public, and purchasers of health services and has identified a number of key issues.

Vaccines for all: A formative evaluation of a multistakeholder community-engaged COVID-19 vaccine outreach clinic for migrant communities.

Background: Racialized, low-income, and migrant populations experience persistent barriers to vaccines against COVID-19. These communities in East and Northeast Calgary were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, yet faced vaccine access barriers. Diverse multi-stakeholder coalitions and community partnerships can improve vaccine outreach strategies, but how stakeholders perceive these models is unknown.

Improving social justice in observational studies: protocol for the development of a global and Indigenous STROBE-equity reporting guideline.

Background: Addressing persistent and pervasive health inequities is a global moral imperative, which has been highlighted and magnified by the societal and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Observational studies can aid our understanding of the impact of health and structural oppression based on the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, age and other factors, as they frequently collect this data. However, the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guideline, does not provide guidance related to reporting of health equity.

PROTOCOL: Mobile apps to reduce depressive symptoms and alcohol use in youth: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Depressive symptoms and alcohol use in youth doubled in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has created sustained disruption in society, schools, and universities, including increasing poverty and discrimination. Public health restrictions have caused isolation and reduced social and emotional support.

Knowledge mobilization activities to support decision-making by youth, parents, and adults using a systematic and living map of evidence and recommendations on COVID-19: protocol for three randomized controlled trials and qualitative user-experience studies.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic underlined that guidelines and recommendations must be made more accessible and more understandable to the general public to improve health outcomes. The objective of this study is to evaluate, quantify, and compare the public's understanding, usability, satisfaction, intention to implement, and preference for different ways of presenting COVID-19 health recommendations derived from the COVID-19 Living Map of Recommendations and Gateway to Contextualization (RecMap).

Methods And Analysis: This is a protocol for a multi-method study.

Identifying Health Equity Factors That Influence the Public's Perception of COVID-19 Health Information and Recommendations: A Scoping Review.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted global public health and public trust in health recommendations. Trust in health information may waver in the context of health inequities. The objective of this scoping review is to map evidence on public perceptions of COVID-19 prevention information using the PROGRESS-Plus health equity framework.

An undergraduate medical education framework for refugee and migrant health: Curriculum development and conceptual approaches.

Background: International migration, especially forced migration, highlights important medical training needs including cross-cultural communication, human rights, as well as global health competencies for physical and mental healthcare. This paper responds to the call for a 'trauma informed' refugee health curriculum framework from medical students and global health faculty.

Methods: We used a mixed-methods approach to develop a guiding medical undergraduate refugee and migrant health curriculum framework.

A multistakeholder development process to prioritize and translate COVID-19 health recommendations for patients, caregivers and the public. A case study of the COVID-19 recommendation map.

Background And Objectives: To develop a digital communication tool to improve the implementation of up-to-date COVID-19 recommendations. Specifically, to improve patient, caregiver and public understanding of healthcare recommendations on prevention, diagnoses and treatment.

Methods: Multi-stakeholder engagement design.