Imperial College London
Portrait Picture

Dr Laura Lennox

Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health

Improvement Science / Health Improvement Lead
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 3315 3392l.lennox Website

 
 
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Location

 

H4.28Chelsea and Westminster HospitalChelsea and Westminster Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Issen:2018:intqhc/mzy063,
author = {Issen, L and Woodcock, T and McNicholas, C and Lennox, L and Reed, JE},
doi = {intqhc/mzy063},
journal = {International Journal for Quality in Health Care},
pages = {508--513},
title = {Criteria for evaluating programme theory diagrams in quality improvement initiatives: a structured method for appraisal},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzy063},
volume = {30},
year = {2018}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Background: Despite criticisms that many Quality Improvement (QI) initiatives fail due to incomplete programme theory, there is no defined way to evaluate how programme theory has been articulated. The objective of this research was to develop, and assess the usability and reliability of, scoring criteria to evaluate programme theory diagrams. Methods:  Criteria development was informed by published literature and QI experts. Inter-rater reliability was tested between two evaluators. 63 programme theory diagrams (42 driver diagrams and 21 action effect diagrams) were reviewed to establish whether the criteria could support comparative analysis of different approaches to constructing diagrams.Results: Components of the scoring criteria include: assessment of overall aim, logical overview, clarity of components, cause/effect relationships, evidence, and measurement. Independent reviewers had 78% inter-rater reliability. Scoring enabled direct comparison of different approaches to developing programme theory; Action-Effect diagrams were found to have had a statistically significant but moderate improvement in programme theory quality over Driver Diagrams; no significant differences were observed based on the setting in which Driver Diagrams were developed.Conclusions: The scoring criteria summarise the necessary components of programme theory that are thought to contribute to successful QI projects. The viability of the scoring criteria for practical application was demonstrated. Future uses include assessment of individual programme theory diagrams, and comparison of different approaches (e.g. methodological, teaching or other QI support) to produce programme theory. The criteria can be used as a tool to guide the production of better programme theory diagrams, and also highlights where additional support for QI teams could be needed.
AU  - Issen,L
AU  - Woodcock,T
AU  - McNicholas,C
AU  - Lennox,L
AU  - Reed,JE
DO  - intqhc/mzy063
EP  - 513
PY  - 2018///
SN  - 1353-4505
SP  - 508
TI  - Criteria for evaluating programme theory diagrams in quality improvement initiatives: a structured method for appraisal
T2  - International Journal for Quality in Health Care
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzy063
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/57934
VL  - 30
ER  -
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