COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS FOR COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS AND HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT – REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE

Overview: This is an introductory-level course about complex interventions and their increasing role in comparative effectiveness and health technology assessment (HTA) research. The course will provide basic theoretical frameworks for the design, implementation and evaluation of the complex interventions for HTA, supported by instructors' real world examples and lessons learned.

Background: Course will provide basic knowledge about complex interventions, their design, implementation and evaluation as well as their role in the HTA and comparative effectiveness research. Main focus of the course is on the increasing role of context as well as challenges related to the statistical analysis and economic evaluation of complex interventions, which will be discussed using instructors’ real world examples.

Format Requirements: The course will start with the introduction to core concepts of complex interventions – their design, implementation and evaluation as well as their role in comparative effectiveness and HTA. Significant portion of this course will be used to discuss instructors’ real world examples, and challenges related to statistical analysis and economic evaluation of complex interventions, while actively engaging participants in the discussion. Participants will have an opportunity to gain hands-on experience and apply what they have learned through an exercise. Participants may have some previous knowledge of complex interventions, but it is not a requirement since this course is designed at an introductory level.

Description and Objectives: Complex interventions are interventions with multiple interacting components that target multiple groups or organisational levels. They are context-dependant and characterized by the lack of linear, well-evidenced causal pathways linking the intervention and the health outcomes. Complex interventions usually have multiple outcomes and permit certain degree of flexibility or tailoring in their design. 

This is an introductory-level course about complex interventions and their increasing role in the comparative effectiveness and health technology assessment research. Multiple study designs can be utilized to evaluate these interventions in real world, including but not limited to clinical trials, qualitative research, mixed-methods studies, and economic evaluation. The course provides basic theoretical frameworks and practical guidance for the design, implementation and evaluation of the complex interventions. As their complex nature is associated with multiple challenges, the course will be focused on addressing these challenges using real world examples.  

The main objectives of the course are:

• To provide basic knowledge about complex interventions, their design, implementation and evaluation
• To discuss the increasing role of the complex interventions and their context in comparative effectiveness and health technology assessment 
• To discuss challenges related to statistical analysis and economic evaluation of complex interventions
• To discuss real world applications and challenges of feasibility/piloting/implementation of complex interventions, and the use of different study designs (e.g., pragmatic trials) as well as administrative databases in  design, implementation and evaluation of these interventions