Methodspace
Eleanor Jackson-Bowers, PHC RIS
<www.methodspace.com>
PHC RIS has an ongoing interest in the interaction between researchers, which develops knowledge in our field. This networking has been a prominent feature of the Primary Health Care Research Conference. There is now an opportunity to develop this further through the virtual world.
Methodspace is an on-line community of researchers interested in research methodologies which is sponsored by SAGE, a well known publisher of research methodology titles. It is a very active community of researchers, mainly from social sciences and health disciplines, who are using a wide range of methodologies.
On the website one can set up a blog, join groups discussing different types of methodologies, post questions and answers in a forum, or discuss the article of the month with other members. There are links to resources, listings of courses and events, videos of members speaking about methodological topics and a chat room.
The community appears to be large enough to generate useful discussion of specialised research topics and nearly all questions posed in the forum attract answers. In browsing the site I was amazed at the generosity of contributors in answering questions.
The primary health care research community in Australia has not to-date ventured into on-line discussion. This is an excellent opportunity to do so and to set up a primary health care group to support our network. I hope to meet some of you on-line!
Evidence & Evaluation for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Sandy Muecke, PHC RIS
<www.health.vic.gov.au/healthpromotion/evidence_evaluation/index.htm>
The State Government of Victoria's Health Promotion website may be useful for practitioners working in the health promotion and disease prevention workforce who wish to use evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of programs or interventions. Information has been grouped into three sections: evidence and evaluation tools, evidence of intervention effectiveness and cost effectiveness, and external sources of evidence. Contract details are also provided.
Evidence and Evaluation Tools
This section is comprised of three smaller subsections. The first of these provides links to two short yet comprehensive guidelines that aim to assist evidence informed decision-making. The first guideline leads the reader through the processes required to select an intervention that best addresses their question or problem. The second describes the courses of action required to produce evidence summaries (synopses of evidence that address a particular question).
In the second subsection, two publications relating to evidence of intervention effectiveness and cost effectiveness are listed. The first offers search strategies for extrapolating evidence which is used to assess the effectiveness of interventions, including links to databases of systemic reviews. A better understanding of the usefulness of qualitative studies is the topic of the second publication in this section.
The third subsection provides links to five useful documents relating to the evaluation of 'health promotion and disease prevention programs'.
Intervention Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness
Links to several short evidence summaries (rapid reviews) and lengthier, more comprehensive summaries are found in this section. Unlike the shorter versions, longer summaries offer recommendations for 'health promotion funders, planners and practitioners requiring an evidence-base for their work.'
Selected External Sources of Evidence
Again, links to systematic review databases are listed when this item is selected. Credible sources for the economic evaluation of interventions are also found here, as are links to other sources of evidence, such as work carried out by the World Health Organization.
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