Evidence Use in the Development of the Australian Dietary Guidelines: A Qualitative Study

Dietary guidelines are important nutrition policy reference standards that should be informed by the best available evidence. The types of evidence that are reviewed and the evidence review methods that are used have implications for evidence translation. The aim of this study was to explore perceived advantages, disadvantages, and practicalities associated with the synthesis and translation of evidence from nutrient-based, food-based, and dietary patterns research in dietary guideline development. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with people involved in the development of the 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADGs). Transcripts were analysed thematically. To inform future ADGs, there was support for reviewing evidence on a range of dietary exposures (including dietary patterns, foods and food groups, nutrients and food components, and eating occasions) and health outcomes, as well as evidence on environmental sustainability and equity. At the evidence synthesis stage, practicalities associated with planning the evidence review and conducting original systematic reviews were discussed. At the evidence translation stage, practicalities associated with integrating the evidence and consulting stakeholders were described. To ensure that the best available evidence is translated into future ADGs, evidence review methods should be selected based on the exposures and outcomes of interest.

Robust cross-country comparison of children meeting 24-HR movement guidelines: an odds solution for binary effect efficiency measures

Aim International comparisons of public health measures relative to observed best practice are increasingly important for evaluating community health promotion strategies and policies such as meeting or not meeting public health guidelines. This study aimed to identify methods enabling robust evaluation with such binary effect measures at a population level. Subject and methods Conventional efficiency comparisons of binary effect proportions are problematic due to a lack of consistency with alternate framing of resulting relative risks. In this paper, we illustrate such inconsistent efficiency measures comparing the proportion of school age children (9–11 years) meeting or not meeting integrated movement guidelines (IMGs) across the 12 countries from the International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment (ISCOLE) study. IMGs jointly consider physical activity, sleep and sedentary behaviours. An odds method is developed to enable consistent efficiency comparison with alternative framing of binary effects. Results A novel odds solution to relative risk problems arising with conventional efficiency comparison of binary effects with alternative framing is shown to provide consistent efficiency measures relative to best practice. Furthermore, this technical advancement is shown to extend to consistent indirect comparison and evidence translation. Conclusion Robust methods for international cross-country comparison of binary effect measures such as meeting or not meeting guidelines are identified with a novel odds ratio method. This novel solution is particularly important for health promotion evaluation of IMGs given the need for consistent comparison in evaluating practice evidence of what works now and consistent evidence translation of treatment effects as and when they emerge.

Translating and Interpreting at the ICTY

Procedures developed at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in response to issues concerning evidence translation and testimony interpretation have provided international criminal courts and tribunals with expertise and insight. These will shape the profession for decades to come. As to the impact on jurisprudence, the Conference and Language Service Section (CLSS), being part of Registry, played a key—often underestimated—role in ensuring the equality of arms between the parties. In a larger sense, the provisional nature of translated texts and interpreted testimony encourages challenges and disputes, and these discussions move the proceedings to a greater understanding; precisely because the obstacles presented by dealing with other languages and cultures force everyone in the courtroom to pay more attention to communication and meaning. It is this constant querying of what everyone thought they did or did not understand that takes these complex trials to completion and comprehension.

Pathways From Research Into Public Decision Making: Intermediaries as the Third Community

Scholars and practitioners in public administration have often been referred to as the two communities, reflecting their differing incentives, constraints, and foci. In this paper, we examine the knowledge surrounding the use of empirical evidence in public decision making from both the academic and practice of policymaking literatures. After identifying points of convergence, we compare the important factors identified in each literature to four known cases of impact of empirical findings. We discuss how well each set of literature explains our cases and identify an important third community underidentified in the current conceptualizations of evidence translation—knowledge intermediaries.