Abstract
BackgroundLogic models are becoming an increasingly common feature of systematic reviews, as is the use of programme theory more generally in systematic reviewing. Logic models offer a framework to help reviewers to ‘think’ conceptually at various points during the review, and can be a useful tool in defining study inclusion and exclusion criteria, guiding the search strategy, identifying relevant outcomes, identifying mediating and moderating factors, and communicating review findings.Methods and FindingsIn this paper we critique the use of logic models in systematic reviews and protocols drawn from two databases representing reviews of health interventions and international development interventions. Programme theory featured only in a minority of the reviews and protocols included. Despite drawing from different disciplinary traditions, reviews and protocols from both sources shared several limitations in their use of logic models and theories of change, and these were used almost unanimously to solely depict pictorially the way in which the intervention worked. Logic models and theories of change were consequently rarely used to communicate the findings of the review.ConclusionsLogic models have the potential to be an aid integral throughout the systematic reviewing process. The absence of good practice around their use and development may be one reason for the apparent limited utility of logic models in many existing systematic reviews. These concerns are addressed in the second half of this paper, where we offer a set of principles in the use of logic models and an example of how we constructed a logic model for a review of school-based asthma interventions.
Highlights
Researchers in academic institutions have historically measured their success by the impact that their research has within their own research communities, and have paid less attention to measuring its broader social impact
In this paper we critique the use of logic models in systematic reviews and protocols drawn from two databases representing reviews of health interventions and international development interventions
The absence of good practice around their use and development may be one reason for the apparent limited utility of logic models in many existing systematic reviews. These concerns are addressed in the second half of this paper, where we offer a set of principles in the use of logic models and an example of how we constructed a logic model for a review of school-based asthma interventions
Summary
Researchers in academic institutions have historically measured their success by the impact that their research has within their own research communities, and have paid less attention to measuring its broader social impact. In the case of logic models this is undertaken through pictorially depicting the chain of components representing processes and conditions between the initial inputs of an intervention and the outcomes; a similar approach underlies theories of change, albeit with a greater emphasis on articulating the specific hypotheses of how different parts of the chain result in progression to the stage This shared understanding was intended to develop across practitioner and program implementers, who may otherwise have very different roles in an intervention, as well as among a broader set of stakeholders, including funders and policy-makers. Logic models offer a framework to help reviewers to ‘think’ conceptually at various points during the review, and can be a useful tool in defining study inclusion and exclusion criteria, guiding the search strategy, identifying relevant outcomes, identifying mediating and moderating factors, and communicating review findings.
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