Collaborating with end-users in evidence synthesis: case studies for prevention in the first 2000 days

Alexandra Chung; Konsita Kuswara; Brittany Johnson; Anna Lene Seidler; Alix Hall; Vicki Brown

doi:10.1071/phrp3412410

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Collaborating with end-users in evidence synthesis: case studies for prevention in the first 2000 days

Alexandra Chung ^A ^B ^* , Konsita Kuswara ^C , Brittany Johnson ^C ^D , Anna Lene Seidler ^C ^E , Alix Hall ^F ^G ^H and Vicki Brown ^C ^I

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Health and Social Care Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

^B Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

^C Centre for Excellence in Translating Early Prevention of Obesity in Childhood (CRE EPOCH-Translate), Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia

^D Flinders University, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Caring Futures Institute, Adelaide, South Australia

^E National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia

^F School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

^G NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence, National Centre of Implementation Science, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

^H Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), Newcastle, NSW, Australia

^I Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin Health Economics, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

^* Correspondence to: alexandra.chung@monash.edu

Public Health Research and Practice 34, e3412410 https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp3412410

Published: 4 April 2024

2024 © Chung et al. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence, which allows others to redistribute, adapt and share this work non-commercially provided they attribute the work and any adapted version of it is distributed under the same Creative Commons licence terms.

Abstract

Background:Evidence synthesis is an important tool to inform decision-making in public health policy and practice. Collaborative approaches to evidence synthesis involving researchers and the end-users of their research can enhance the relevance of the evidence for policy and practice and overcome the limitations of traditional evidence synthesis methods. Despite its benefits, collaboration is not consistently integrated into evidence-synthesis methods. Type of program or service: Collaborative evidence synthesis for public health policy and practice. Methods: Reflecting on our experiences of undertaking collaborative evidence syntheses with end-users to inform policy and practice around preventive health in the first 2000 days of life, we have collated our key learnings to inform future collaborations in public health research. Results: Key themes generated from our reflections were: 1) establish genuine partnerships early on with stakeholders, leveraging existing trusted relationships; 2) identify common goals; 3) prioritise evidence synthesis aims and objectives to ensure they are policy and practice relevant; and 4) maintain transparent, two-way communication. Lessons learnt: Collaboration involving researchers and end-users enhances knowledge synthesis methodologies, increases relevance and accessibility of the evidence for end-users, and strengthens research-policy relationships.

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