What key contextual factors influence the uptake of research evidence during the prenatal record revision process?
The main research question for Phase 2 was: What internal and external contextual factors influence evidence use during the prenatal record revision process?
B.I.N. was responsible for original protocol, trial methodology, data analysis, the application to Ullevål Hospital's Advisory Committee on the Protection of Patient Records, revision and final approval.
Multiple sources of data will be used to explore internal and external contextual factors at play during the prenatal record revision process [ 60].
Interviews will address potential internal and external contextual factors as well as different types and sources of evidence that may have contributed to decisions around prenatal record content made during the province's most recent prenatal record revision.
Several of these prenatal records had been revised within the past few years, suggesting that available research evidence related to maternal smoking had somehow failed to penetrate the prenatal record revision process.
The mix of different contextual factors as well as their effects on evidence utilization will be tabulated using cross-site displays, to help generate inferences about the relative impact of the decision-making environment on the prenatal record revision process.
Guided by the framework for context-based evidence-based decision-making, the overarching question for our study is, "What is the influence of contextual factors on the uptake and application of evidence by provincially-mandated prenatal record review committees?" The main unit of analysis for this case study is the prenatal record revision process within each province/territory.
Conversely, provinces with more time and money allocated to the prenatal record revision process and/or greater capacity of committee members to assess the available research evidence (i.e., internal decision-making context) would be expected to have more evidenced-base prenatal records.
The extent to which current prenatal records reflect the evidence base around important risk factors such as maternal smoking and alcohol use varies markedly across Canadian provinces and territories [ 5], begging the question of how research evidence penetrates the prenatal record revision process.
