Health Evidence™

Health Evidence™ is a database maintained by the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT). Our goal is to provide a best-in-class resource of high-quality synthesis evidence to support public health decision making. Health Evidence™ includes quality-appraisals on peer reviewed, published evidence syntheses evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of public health interventions.

A Letter from Our Scientific Director

The story of how Health Evidence™ came to be begins many years ago when I started my career as a public health nurse at the City of Hamilton Public Health Department. In those early days, I often found myself questioning my practice and wondered what research evidence supported what I was doing as a public health nurse. Having taken courses focused on critical appraisal of research and research methods during my undergraduate degree in the School of Nursing at McMaster University, it was inevitable that I would question my practice in this way.

I was blessed with working at a health department that had a comprehensive library service, and as public health professionals we were encouraged to access these library services to address practice-based questions. So, with the best of intentions, I set out to find answers to my questions.

I recall calling the librarian and asking her to search for studies evaluating a particular intervention I was implementing. A few weeks later, a very large envelope arrived on my desk full of articles related to my question. I recall being very excited about the opportunity to read research studies and report back to my team what I found.

However, the day the package arrived was already fully booked with home visits, meetings, charting (my front-line daily responsibilities). So, the envelope was placed in my inbox, with the expectation that in the coming days I would work my way through reading each article. My excitement about being able to delve into the research slowly eroded as the realities of front- line daily practice meant I did not have the time during my regular working day to read these articles.

Several months later I found that envelope buried beneath many other pieces of paper, with only one or two papers read. However, seeing this envelope again motivated me to 'just get to it' and read the papers. So, I took them home, thinking I would find the time at night and on weekends to read them. However, several months later, these papers were still unread.

Years later, I realize this early experience as a public health nurse significantly impacted my career path. The creation of Health Evidence™ is an attempt to ensure, at a minimum, that public health professionals can quickly and easily access research evidence on the effectiveness of public health interventions. While I was extremely fortunate to have a librarian who conducted literature searches and retrieved relevant papers for me, many public health professionals were not so fortunate. Still today, many public health professionals across Canada experience significant barriers in identifying and accessing relevant evidence on the effectiveness of public health interventions.

Since launching Health Evidence™ in 2005, we have sought feedback regularly from public health professionals at all decision-making levels in all provinces and territories in Canada. We have listened carefully to your feedback and have sought to integrate your suggestions within the Health Evidence™ website. We have strived to ensure that Health Evidence™ delivers high quality, needed products to the public health community in Canada and I look forward to hearing your feedback.

On behalf of the staff at the NCCMT we wish you all the best in your efforts to achieve evidence-informed decision making in public health in Canada.

Sincerely,
Maureen Dobbins

Funding & Acknowledgments

The NCCMT is hosted by the School of Nursing at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The NCCMT is currently funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the national public health body in Canada that provides leadership in preventing disease and injury and promoting health.

The McMaster Optimal Aging Portal

The McMaster Optimal Aging Portal (the Portal) provides evidence-based information on how people can stay healthy, active and engaged as they grow older. The Portal is a trusted voice on optimal aging for citizens, clinicians, public health professionals and policymakers. Health Evidence™ is one of four best-in-class databases that populate the Portal with the latest research abstracts relevant to aging.

Health Evidence™ Projects

March 2015: Title: Supporting evidence-informed public health decision making in cancer prevention
Funding Agency: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Knowledge to Action Grant
Amount: $200,000 (2 years, March 2015 – February 2017)
Investigators: Dobbins, M., Yost, J., Neudorf, C., Levinson, A. J., Akhtar-Danesh, N.
October 2014: Title: Knowledge Brokering Mentor Training Program
Funding: $25,000 from participating Health Departments (Brant County Health Unit, Hamilton Public Health Unit, Middlesex-London Health Unit, Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, Timiskaming Health Unit)
Investigators: Dobbins, M., Ciliska, D., Yost, J.
Jul 2013: Title: Virtual Interactive Knowledge Translation: A Pilot Study
Funding Agency: Knowledge Translation Canada (Seed Funding)
Amount: $30,000 (1 year, July 2013 - December 2013)
Investigators: Dobbins, M., DeCorby, K., Husson, H., Traynor, R.
Feb 2013: Title: Getting the word out to public health: Sharing the results of the Partnerships for Health Systems Improvement project
Funding Agency: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Dissemination Grant
Amount: $25,000 (1 year, February 2013 - January 2014)
Investigators: Dobbins, M., DeCorby, K., Traynor, R., Yost, J.

We would like to acknowledge and thank the health departments that participated in the CIHR Partnerships for Health Systems Improvement project that promoted evidence-informed decision making! The intervention has wrapped up and the research team has secured funding to share the findings in a paper series to be submitted for fall 2013. Watch for a webinar in late 2013 where we will report on the findings and discuss next steps.
Jan 2013: Title: McMaster Optimal Aging Portal
Funding Agency: Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative
Amount: $332,393 (5 years, January 2013-January 2018)
Investigators: Dobbins, M., Haynes, B., Lavis, J., Levinson, A., Raina, P.

On September 7, 2012, Suzanne Labarge announced a remarkable donation of $10M to McMaster University to support research in optimal aging, with a theme of "Minimizing Risk, Maximizing Resilience." The aim of the Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative is to keep older adults healthy and active for as long as possible. Our initial research focus will be on maintaining mobility, slowing chronic disease and fighting deadly infections as well as developing a resource of information for aging Canadians. The McMaster Optimal Aging Portal will provide trusted and evidence-based information relevant to the aging population, and builds on McMaster's excellence in knowledge translation. Health Evidence™ is involved in developing this portal and working on including systematic reviews of effectiveness related to public health and optimal aging. You can read more about the initiative on the McMaster web site.
Feb 2012: Title: Tailored messaging and health-evidence.ca: Delivering public health to decision makers.
Funding Agency: CIHR Knowledge Translation Supplement
Amount: $100,000 (1 year, February 1, 2012)
Investigators: Dobbins, M., DeCorby, K., Husson, H., Traynor, R., Yost, J.

A CIHR Knowledge Translation Supplement award meant that we could generate new evidence summaries and share them during 12 free webinars for public health staff! The series of webinars presented review-level evidence on topics including: physical activity, substance use, water fluoridation, bicycle helmets, and literacy. During webinars, the moderator explained the evidence and how it could be interpreted for work in public health, and we also tried to incorporate a few evidence tips and tricks, such as how to read a forest plot and how to interpret confidence intervals. We’ve been fortunate to connect with over 1,400 interested folks across the country and internationally as a result of this funding, and hope to be able to continue to provide free webinars in future. If you missed them you can view and listen to the presentations from our site!
Apr 2011: Title: Getting Asthma on the School Health Agenda: A KT Strategy
Funding Agency: AllerGen NCE Inc. Knowledge Translation Support Program ($50,000); Public Health Agency of Canada KT Funds ($20,000); In Kind ($50,000)
Amount: $100,000 (1 year, February 1, 2012)
Investigators: Befus, D., Boulet, L.P., Cicutto, L., Currie, G., DeCorby, K., Dobbins, M., Elliot, S., Johnson, D., Mandhane, P., Noseworthy, M., Scott, S.D., Stewart, M.J., To, T.

We’re involved in this project to provide knowledge translation support, with the ultimate goal of helping to move effective interventions for asthma into Canadian Schools. Health Evidence™ reached out to our networks to invite public health practitioners and stakeholders to participate in AsthmaSphere, a campaign to share evidence and resources, and dialogue on how stakeholders in provincial health and education can adopt a single, school-integrated, collaborative model for children with asthma.
Mar 2011: Title: Working together toward evidence-informed public health in Canada: Turning research into action
Funding Agency: Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Amount: $99.946 (1 year, February 1, 2011)
Investigators: Dobbins, M., DeCorby, K., Robeson, P., Traynor, R.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded this project that allowed us to write 11 new summary statements for well-done reviews, identifying key findings and implications for public health. We hosted 6 webinars that reached nearly 300 public health staff across Canada and internationally, on priority topics including: reproductive health, social determinants of health, child and family health, and chronic disease prevention. We’ve been cataloguing, rating, and summarizing reviews and were thrilled to have the chance to connect with decision makers about the results. Well-done reviews were summarized in a two-page evidence summary, and shared with public health staff during the online webinars, view and listen to the presentations from our site!
Oct 2009: Title: A Tailored, Collaborative Strategy to Develop Capacity and Facilitate Evidence-informed Public Health Decision Making
Funding Agency: Canadian Institutes of Health Research Partnerships for Health System Improvement ($350,000); Ontario Public Health Units ($150,000) (3 years, January 2010 – February 2013)
Investigators: Dobbins, M., Kyle, R., Timmings, C., Ward, M., Cava, M., Clarke, C., Pietrusiak, M., Akhtar-Danesh, N., Jack, S., Kothari, A., Lemieux- Charles, L., McKibbon, A., Peirson, L., Sibbald, S.

This project allowed us to involve public health staff at three Ontario health departments in the planning of interventions that would help them to promote the use of research evidence in their existing and ongoing work. The funding from both CIHR and health department contributions allowed for the services of a knowledge broker to support the work of health department staff, and aimed to develop in-house capacity for EIDM. Health departments hosted a customized 22-month intervention, working on their own time frames, with all interventions wrapped up by February 2013. The productivity of this project is demonstrated by 27 rapid reviews completed as a result, along with a workshop series for evidence-informed decision making, new policy and procedures, among other projects. To learn more about this project, you can view one of our conference presentations on Slide Share and watch for papers that will be developed and disseminated as part of newly-funded CIHR project listed above (February 2013).
Aug 2008: Title: Do Tailored Messages Promote Evidence-Informed Decision Making in Breast Cancer Prevention?
Funding Agency: Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation
Amount: $299,130 (2 years, April 2008 – May 2010)
Investigators: Dobbins, M., Cameron, R., DiCenso A., Bryant-Lukosius D., Ciliska D., Akhtar-Danesh, N., Jack, S., Brouwers, M

Funding from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation allowed us to summarize what the review-level evidence tells us about what works in risk factor reduction and screening for breast cancer. We engaged experts in developing recommendations for public health and disseminated recommendations via a tailored message campaign over 11 weeks (August 17, 2010 to October 25, 2010), to a total of 196 participants: 113 in the intervention group, representing 27 public health organizations, and 83 in the control group, representing 32 public health organizations. The evidence review was updated in 2011 with recommendations still available on our web site.