|
||||||
 Yet another study announced which aims to find “the” best way – this time the best way to treat anorexia nervosa. As reported in The Age: Australian researchers will conduct a world-first study to find the optimal treatment for the debilitating, and often deadly, disorder anorexia nervosa. Around one in five people, usually women, Read the whole post –> Finding “the best” way  There have been quite a few posts on Genuine Evaluation on the topic of causation. We got a kick out of this satirical newspaper report of a polling showing that correlation is, in fact, causality. What a relief! A few snippets to whet your appetite: WASHINGTON (AP) The results of a new survey conducted by pollsters suggest Read the whole post –> The Friday Funny: New Poll Shows Correlation is Causation In the last few days before the Australian federal election, a curious $5million advertising campaign has been launched which claims to be advocating evidence-based policy but does nothing of the Read the whole post –> How much evidence is needed for policy? How do we find out whether programs, projects and policies have really made a difference? Given the complex array of other influences on the outcomes, is it all too hard? Jane and I have been doing some separate thinking and writing about this. Putting these together has produced a new map of the issues which might be very useful. Read the whole post –> Causal inference for program theory evaluation Wonderful interactive report on the recent ‘Show me the change’ conference in Melbourne on complexity, behavior change and evaluation. An open space conference such as this has magic moments of connection and creation. Documenting them through videos, notes, reflections and cartoons helps to capture the moment for participants and others.  In the medical profession in particular, there are some very rigid beliefs about what constitutes good enough “evidence of effectiveness” to justify offering, recommending, allowing patients to try, or even just not vehemently opposing a particular type of treatment for a patient. There are some glimmers of hope in other sectors (e.g. in the Best Evidence Synthesis work here in New Zealand). But there are still three areas where there are very serious challenges in building a credible evidence base given the kinds of constraints and realities surrounding them. They are: (1) cutting-edge treatments; (2) treatments that are by their very nature tailored/individualized rather than standardized across patients or populations; and (3) learning what works for small Read the whole post –> What constitutes “evidence”? Implications for cutting-edge, tailored treatments, and small sub-populations Has a large RCT provided definitive proof that vitamin A supplementation is ineffective in reducing maternal mortality? Or could there be another explanation? And why hasn’t the widespread reporting of these findings examined Read the whole post –> Intention To Treat and checking for implementation failure and differential effects – questions about vitamin A trials in Ghana Another example of how misreporting of findings can undermine effective public response to identified hazards. Read the whole post –> Facebook ’spreads syphilis’ – or does it? We recently stumbled across this all-time classic that Genuine Evaluation readers may well appreciate! Smith, G. C. S. & Pell, J. P. (2003, December). Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials. BMJ, 327, Read the whole post –> The Friday Funny: A review of RCTs on parachute use When a large and expensive evaluation fails to produce useful results, it’s worth seeing if at least it can be useful as a cautionary tale. Blueprint is a UK Government-funded drugs education programme consisting of five components: drug education in schools (for 11 and 12-year-olds – this was the main emphasis), drug education for parents, Read the whole post –> £6 million over 5 years – and STILL no genuine evaluation of Blueprint? |
||||||
|
Copyright © 2010 Genuine Evaluation - All Rights Reserved |
||||||
Recent Comments