COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS FOR COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS AND HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT

Format Requirements: The class will start with the theoretical session where course instructors will describe core concepts of complex interventions - design, implementation and evaluation as well as role of complex intervention in comparative effectiveness and HTA research. Challenges related to statistical analysis and economic evaluation of complex interventions will be discussed. This will be followed by the highly interactive session where participants will gain hands-on experience to apply what they have learned. They will design complex intervention to evaluate health technology. Participants may have some previous knowledge of complex interventions, but it is not a requirement since this course is designed at an introductory level.

Complex interventions are interventions which have multiple interacting components and they target multiple groups or organisational levels. They are 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 they 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 approaches are required to evaluate real world outcomes, such as clinical trials, qualitative research, health economics. The course provides theoretical frameworks and practical guidance for the design, implementation and evaluation of the complex interventions. Real world examples will be used throughout.  

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/pilot/implementation studies, pragmatic trials and administrative databases in complex intervention evaluation 
• To gain hands-on experience and design complex intervention to evaluate health technology (such as device)