Abstract
BackgroundWe completed a scoping review on the barriers and facilitators to use of systematic reviews by health care managers and policy makers, including consideration of format and content, to develop recommendations for systematic review authors and to inform research efforts to develop and test formats for systematic reviews that may optimise their uptake.MethodsWe used the Arksey and O’Malley approach for our scoping review. Electronic databases (e.g., MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycInfo) were searched from inception until September 2014. Any study that identified barriers or facilitators (including format and content features) to uptake of systematic reviews by health care managers and policy makers/analysts was eligible for inclusion. Two reviewers independently screened the literature results and abstracted data from the relevant studies. The identified barriers and facilitators were charted using a barriers and facilitators taxonomy for implementing clinical practice guidelines by clinicians.ResultsWe identified useful information for authors of systematic reviews to inform their preparation of reviews including providing one-page summaries with key messages, tailored to the relevant audience. Moreover, partnerships between researchers and policy makers/managers to facilitate the conduct and use of systematic reviews should be considered to enhance relevance of reviews and thereby influence uptake.ConclusionsSystematic review authors can consider our results when publishing their systematic reviews. These strategies should be rigorously evaluated to determine impact on use of reviews in decision-making.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13012-016-0370-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
We completed a scoping review on the barriers and facilitators to use of systematic reviews by health care managers and policy makers, including consideration of format and content, to develop recommendations for systematic review authors and to inform research efforts to develop and test formats for systematic reviews that may optimise their uptake
From a format perspective, review authors can consider providing a one-page summary with key messages including importance of the topic, key results, and implications for decision-makers
To make knowledge more useful to the local context, commissioners of reviews such as policy makers frequently undertake processes to contextualise evidence [54], and if guidance on this can be provided by researchers, this may facilitate the process
Summary
We completed a scoping review on the barriers and facilitators to use of systematic reviews by health care managers and policy makers, including consideration of format and content, to develop recommendations for systematic review authors and to inform research efforts to develop and test formats for systematic reviews that may optimise their uptake. Knowledge syntheses are comprehensive and reproducible evidence reviews that summarise all relevant studies on a question [1] They can include traditional systematic reviews and scoping reviews, amongst others. Weiss described several frameworks for knowledge use, including the problem solving model, which she described as the direct application of the results of a study to a decision [9]. She further described this as using knowledge as “ammunition” [9]. Estabrooks described a similar framework for knowledge use including direct, indirect, and persuasive research utilisation, where these terms are analogous to instrumental, conceptual, and symbolic knowledge use, respectively [11]
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