Competency profiles for Evidence-Informed Policy (EIPM): a rapid review

Article type
Authors
Barreto J1, Romão D2, Setti C3, Machado ML4, Riera R5, Gomes R6, Fernandes S7
1Oswaldo Cruz Foundation / Hospital Sírio-Libanês
2Veredas Institute / Hospital Sírio-Libanês
3Veredas Institute
4Hospital Sírio-Libanês / Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar)
5Hospital Sírio-Libanês / Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp)
6Hospital Sírio-Libanês / Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
7Hospital Sírio-Libanês
Abstract
Background: Evidence-Informed Policy-making (EIPM) requires a set of individual and organizational capabilities, articulated with background factors and needs. The identification of essential Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes for EIPM can support the formulation of competency profiles and their application in different contexts.

Objectives: To identify elements of competency (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes) for EIPM according to different professional profiles.

Methods: Rapid review. A structured search was led and was later updated in two comprehensive repositories (BVSalud and PubMed). Review studies with different designs, published from 2010 onwards, and without language restriction were included. Assessment of the methodological quality of the studies was not performed. A meta-aggregative narrative synthesis consolidated the findings.

Results: Ten reviews were included. Eight elements were categorized as Knowledge, nineteen as Skills and ten as Attitudes, totaling 37 elements of competency. These elements were aggregated into four competency profiles (Researcher, Health Professional, Decision-maker and Citizen). The competency profiles included different sets of EIPM-related Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes.

Conclusions: This study is innovative because it aggregates different profiles of competency and uses a practical perspective, favoring the application of its results in different contexts, to support EIPM. Methodological limitations are related to the shortcuts adopted in this review, especially because it does not include complementary searches of the gray literature and does not carry out, in duplicate, the stages of study selection and data extraction. These findings are valuable for discussion and planning how evidence producers and users could be engaged to promote EIPM and to support the health decision-making using trustworthy information.

Patient, public and/or healthcare consumer involvement: This rapid review addresses competency profiles that include different types of decision makers: health policy and systems decision-makers, health professionals, researchers and members of organized civil society.