Support Summaries

Strategies for implementing changes

• Does training for healthcare providers in patient-centred care improve patient outcomes?
• What are the impacts of teaching critical appraisal skills in healthcare settings?
• Can email communication between health professionals improve healthcare?
• What is the effectiveness of interventions targeted at women to improve the uptake of cervical cancer screening?
• What are the impacts of changes in user fees on access to health services?
• What are the effects of printed educational materials on professional practice and healthcare outcomes?
• Does Internet based learning in the health professions improve learning outcomes?
• Does training traditional birth attendants improve pregnancy outcomes?
• What are the effects of behavioral interventions to improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy?
• Is directly observed therapy effective for treating tuberculosis?
• Are tailored strategies effective for changing healthcare professional practice?
• Can in-service health professional training improve the resuscitation of seriously ill newborns and children in low-income countries?
• What is the impact of women’s groups practising participatory learning and action on maternal and newborn health outcomes in low-resource settings?
• Do paper-based safety checklists improve patient safety in acute hospital settings?
• Does use of local opinion leaders improve professional practice and patient outcomes?.
• Do continuing education meetings and workshops for healthcare professionals improve professional practice and healthcare outcomes?
• Does practice facilitation in primary care settings improve adoption of evidence-based guidelines?
• What are the effects of interventions to improve adherence to medication?
• Do reminder systems improve the effectiveness of tuberculosis diagnosis and management?
• What are the effects of interventions to improve childhood vaccination coverage?
• How do strategies to change organizational culture affect healthcare performance?
• Which outreach strategies increase health insurance coverage for vulnerable populations?
• Are interventions to increase hand hygiene among healthcare workers effective?
• Which interventions can improve antibiotic prescription in ambulatory setting?
• Is peer education an effective method for HIV prevention in low- and middle-income countries?
• Do educational outreach visits improve health professional practice and patient outcomes?
• What are the effects of interventions to encourage the use of systematic reviews in clinical decision making?
• Does providing healthcare professionals with data about their performance improve their practice?1
• Do non-clinical interventions reduce unnecessary caesarean section rates?
• Do skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care reduce stillbirths?
• What are the effects of strategies to increase possession and use of insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria?
• Is nutrition training of health workers effective in improving caregivers’ feeding practices for children aged six months to two years?
• Do mass media interventions increase uptake of HIV testing?
• Do interventions for educating traditional healers about STDs and HIV improve their knowledge and behaviour?
• What are the effects of interprofessional education on professional practice and healthcare outcomes?
• Does mobile phone text messaging promote adherence to antiretroviral therapy in people with HIV infection?
• What are the effects of interventions to improve the use of systematic reviews in decision-making by health system managers, policy makers, or clinicians?
• What are the effects of interventions to improve healthcare utilization and health outcomes in people with low health literacy?
• What are the effects of written information about medicines for consumers?

SUPPORT stands for Supporting Policy-relevant Reviews and Trials.

SUPPORT was a project funded from 2006 to 2010 by the European Commission´s 6th Framework Programme and by the Global Health Research Initiative of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

The SUPPORT summaries' format was developed in the context of this project (an article describing the process can be found here). 

The Cochrane EPOC satellite in Norway is currently coordinating an effort to produce SUPPORT Summaries of all LMIC-relevant EPOC reviews and make them freely available online. More about this initiative here.

 The summaries are published in this website, which is maintained by Epistemonikos foundation, one of the partners of the project.