Canadian platform to increase usage of real-world evidence (CAPTURE)

Better information for better program evaluation

Disease prevention programs have a powerful impact on the health of Canadians. But valuable knowledge from experts working in the field is often lost because there is no systemic mechanism to "capture" it.

The CAPTURE Project will use common evaluation tools as a way to gather the lessons learned by practitioners. This will create a loop: their knowledge will be channelled into data which can then be reflected back to improve prevention programs.

CAPTURE is a new project of the Primary Prevention Action Group of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. Diane Finegood, PhD, of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., is leading the initiative. It will involve international experts and bring together diverse stakeholders.

The project will reach out to people working in chronic disease prevention. It will help them to develop and use common evaluation tools for assessing practices and policies.

CAPTURE’s goals are to:

1. Construct common evaluation tools in consultation with stakeholders


2. Gather lessons learned by practitioners using the common evaluation tools


3. Create compatible data from these lessons to highlight what works, who benefits, and in what context; and


4. Apply the new information to improve practice.

To meet these goals CAPTURE will:

• develop a common knowledge-to-action framework to support the way practice-based learning is generated and applied

• engage international knowledge transfer experts

• consult thought leaders among Canadian practitioners; and

• conduct an environmental scan to identify potential partners for CAPTURE.

The knowledge-to-action framework will address common risk factors many chronic diseases such as nutrition, physical activity, obesity, and tobacco use.

What CAPTURE will do

In its first stage, CAPTURE will hold extensive consultations with experts. In its next stage, the information gathered during those meetings will be used to build practical tools, such as databases. This will set the knowledge transfer cycle into motion.

Specifically, CAPTURE will consult with international experts in the field of knowledge-to-action in public and population health. These experts will be asked to develop and refine one question, which will later be posed in an online brainstorming session.

About 100 experts will then be asked to rate the importance and feasibility of developing common indicators and evaluation tools that support collecting and using practice-based learning through a common framework.

As well, extensive consultations across the Canadian practitioner community will be held.

An international consulting workshop hosted by CAPTURE will gather 40-50 world experts to review the findings and produce an initial outline of the knowledge-to-action framework.

This will provide a baseline for evaluating the best indicators and measures of prevention program and policy effectiveness in Canada.

Outcomes

CAPTURE will boost the development and use of common tools for evaluating prevention programs in Canada. It will result in:

• a better flow of knowledge so that lessons learned in the field are captured, processed into data (thus improving science), and then reflected back to practitioners; and


• better engagement of a wide range of partners and stakeholders in academia, non-governmental organizations, government, and industry on projects of mutual benefit.

Over the long-term, the project will result in a more scientific, coordinated approach to chronic disease prevention in Canada, and will empower prevention practitioners to assess and report on the impact of their work.