A research paper on the way in which health policy agencies intend to use Sax Institute Evidence Check rapid reviews is being highlighted by the journal Evidence & Policy this month.
Each month, free access to a selected paper is provided by the journal Evidence & Policy. In the paper chosen this month, Sax Institute researchers examined 74 rapid reviews commissioned by health policy agencies through the Evidence Check program,to understand what prompted policy makers to commission the reviews and how they intended to use them.
The study found the reviews were most commonly aimed at helping to identify alternative solutions to a policy problem (51%) and to evaluate alternative solutions in light of a particular context (36%).
Primarily, policy makers reported that they intended to use reviews to determine the details of a policy or program (77%), or to inform high-level planning or priority-setting processes (16%).
The authors suggested that more research into the actual use of rapid reviews would further advance understanding of how and when they were most successfully employed.
Find out more
- Read the full paper in the Evidence & Policy journal
- Read our Research Showcase summary of the paper
- Browse our Evidence Check library
