Article type
Abstract
Background:
Despite recent advancements in graphical and tabular tools for summarizing Network Meta-Analysis (NMA) findings, existing options mostly rely on traditional formats, limiting their capacity to capture the extensive information offered by NMAs due to space constraints. Additionally, these tools are insufficient to meet the varied expectations and needs of diverse stakeholders.
Objectives:
Our aim is to build and make publicly available a fully interactive online scalable knowledge translation tool (SKTtool) integrated within the NMAstudio application (http://www.nmastudioapp.com/). This tool is designed to effectively summarize and present NMA findings in a transparent manner, accommodating the requirements of different end-users.
Methods:
We adopt a structured approach, starting with reviewing reporting guidelines and existing tools to inform the development of an initial draft tool. Then, an international expert committee comprising NMA specialists from various countries is formed to provide insight about required updates and enrichments of the tool. We also invite stakeholders, including guideline developers, clinicians, policymakers, and health professionals experienced in (network) meta-analysis to attend 2 rounds of online interviews. The first round focuses on understanding the needs of the stakeholders and receiving their feedback on how to improve the draft version. The second round includes user-testing interviews to assess user experience. After refining the tool based on feedback, we integrate the pre-release version into NMAstudio for full interactivity.
Results:
Users can upload their data into NMAstudio, where the SKTtool generates relevant results and outputs. The SKTtool includes information boxes and a table presenting key NMA details, allowing users to interact with the results through embedded functions and to generate access tokens for project sharing and reproducibility. Using a network of 20 drugs for chronic plaque psoriasis as an example, we demonstrate how our SKTtool facilitates the summary and communication of extensive NMA information and findings.
Conclusions:
Our web application offers a fully interactive, flexible, and user-friendly solution for summarizing and presenting NMA findings, enhancing accessibility and usability for different stakeholders.
Despite recent advancements in graphical and tabular tools for summarizing Network Meta-Analysis (NMA) findings, existing options mostly rely on traditional formats, limiting their capacity to capture the extensive information offered by NMAs due to space constraints. Additionally, these tools are insufficient to meet the varied expectations and needs of diverse stakeholders.
Objectives:
Our aim is to build and make publicly available a fully interactive online scalable knowledge translation tool (SKTtool) integrated within the NMAstudio application (http://www.nmastudioapp.com/). This tool is designed to effectively summarize and present NMA findings in a transparent manner, accommodating the requirements of different end-users.
Methods:
We adopt a structured approach, starting with reviewing reporting guidelines and existing tools to inform the development of an initial draft tool. Then, an international expert committee comprising NMA specialists from various countries is formed to provide insight about required updates and enrichments of the tool. We also invite stakeholders, including guideline developers, clinicians, policymakers, and health professionals experienced in (network) meta-analysis to attend 2 rounds of online interviews. The first round focuses on understanding the needs of the stakeholders and receiving their feedback on how to improve the draft version. The second round includes user-testing interviews to assess user experience. After refining the tool based on feedback, we integrate the pre-release version into NMAstudio for full interactivity.
Results:
Users can upload their data into NMAstudio, where the SKTtool generates relevant results and outputs. The SKTtool includes information boxes and a table presenting key NMA details, allowing users to interact with the results through embedded functions and to generate access tokens for project sharing and reproducibility. Using a network of 20 drugs for chronic plaque psoriasis as an example, we demonstrate how our SKTtool facilitates the summary and communication of extensive NMA information and findings.
Conclusions:
Our web application offers a fully interactive, flexible, and user-friendly solution for summarizing and presenting NMA findings, enhancing accessibility and usability for different stakeholders.