Study 3: From insecurity to confidence: evaluation of an innovative panel members’ training for guideline development – a survey

Background: Guidelines are essential tools for ensuring evidence-based healthcare and supporting decision-making. Their development is complex, yet many guideline panel members lack formal training. Existing training programs do not fully cover methodological and process-related educational needs expressed in a preliminary survey. Guideline panels involve diverse roles, each with unique responsibilities and skill sets, making tailored training essential. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how a panel member-tailored program grounded in five educational design principles: contextual, constructive, blended, just-in-time and collaborative learning can support guideline panel members during guideline development. Methods: The training was co-created with guideline methodologists, educationalists, and health economists. Intended learning outcomes were developed using the Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) matrix. An anonymised survey with a Likert-scale of 1 (completely disagree) - 5 (completely agree) and open-ended questions based on the training design principles was used to evaluate the training. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis. Results: Six multidisciplinary guideline panels participated in the training. Half of the panel members (n=33) and 60% of the project leads (n=9) completed the survey. The training improved panel members’ understanding of the guideline process (85%, 23/27) and their preparedness for their tasks (53%, 15/28). Contextual learning enhanced relevance by aligning the training to panel members’ roles and tasks (82%; 23/28), and the examples were realistic (89%; 25/28). Constructive learning elements encouraged active engagement with the learning material (73%; 19/26). The blended and just-in-time principle provided flexibility, allowing the training to accommodate the diverse development processes. However, the synchronous in-person components could be further strengthened. Approximately half of the ...