Using the Delphi method to construct a system for grading the quality of evidence for public health decision-making

Article type
Authors
Li X1, Deng X1, Shang X1, Zhou L1, Guo K2, Yang K3
1Health Technology Assessment Center/Evidence-Based Social Science Research Center, School of Public Health, Lanzhou, China; Evidence Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou, China; Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China
2Department of infection management, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Lanzhou, China
3Evidence Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou, China; Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China
Abstract
Background: Currently, there is a deficiency in a quality grading system suitable for complex public health environments.
Objective: To construct a grading method for evidence quality applicable to the field of public health decision-making.
Methods: Based on Delphi survey method, 24 experts were consulted for two rounds of correspondence to form a consensus on the contents of evidence evaluation items, scoring rules and comprehensive evaluation methods.
Results: With the recovery rate being higher than 80% in the two rounds of correspondence interview, the experts’ opinions were seen basically the same, and their positive coefficient was good. The authority coefficient was higher than 0.85. Kendall coordination coeflicients were 0.227 and 0.494, respectively, showing statistical significance (P < 0.05). Integrating expert opinions, a public health decision-making evidence quality evaluation system (PHE-Grading) with 15 first-level items and 55 second-level items were finally constructed. The evidence strength was finally translated into four levels based on the evaluation results of each part of items (up to 15 points) : high ( > 11), moderate ( ( 8-11 ] ). low ( ( 4-8 ] ) and very low ( ≤ 4).
Conclusions: Based on Delphi survey method, the grading system for evidence quality in public health decision-making is initially established, which has good applicability and feasibility, but its system performance and extensibility need to be further verified.