Centre for Applied Health Economics, School of Medicine, and Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.
Value Health. 2013 Jan-Feb;16(1):155-63. doi: 10.1016/j.jval.2012.09.011.
Many jurisdictions are moving toward greater public involvement in health technology assessment (HTA) processes. This study aims to provide a broad, cross-sectional indication of the extent and methods of public engagement in HTA, with a focus on which public are engaged, by what mechanisms, and the purpose of public engagement.
An international Web-based survey of 217 organizations involved in HTA was undertaken. Contact e-mail addresses for targeted organizations were identified from the Internet.
Individuals from 39 (18%) of the contacted organizations completed a survey. The majority (67%) of responding HTA organizations undertake public engagement activities, predominantly involving lay representatives of organized groups (81%), and to a lesser extent individual patients/consumers (54%) or citizens/community members (54%). For organizations undertaking public engagement, mechanisms based on communication or consultation were the most common, although some organizations have used or intend to use participatory approaches, particularly the Citizens' Jury (8%) or Consensus Council (20%) methods. Respondents identified with a number of rationales and barriers for undertaking public engagement.
This survey provides further insight into the public engagement approaches that are used by HTA organizations in practice. In particular, it suggests a limited adoption of participatory methods to date, and interest in the use of social media. Study findings require further confirmation, due to limitations related to survey response. There is considerable opportunity for further research into pragmatic, robust, and meaningful approaches to public engagement to strengthen HTA policy and decision-making frameworks. An agenda for future research evolving from the survey responses is proposed.
许多司法管辖区正在朝着让更多公众参与健康技术评估（HTA）过程的方向发展。本研究旨在广泛、跨部门地了解公众参与 HTA 的程度和方法，重点关注哪些公众参与、通过什么机制以及公众参与的目的。
对 217 个参与 HTA 的组织进行了国际网络调查。从互联网上确定了目标组织的联系电子邮件地址。
有 39 个（18%）联系组织的个人完成了一项调查。大多数（67%）参与 HTA 的组织开展了公众参与活动，主要涉及有组织团体的普通代表（81%），以及较少的个体患者/消费者（54%）或公民/社区成员（54%）。对于开展公众参与的组织而言，基于沟通或协商的机制最为常见，尽管一些组织已经使用或打算使用参与式方法，特别是公民陪审团（8%）或共识理事会（20%）方法。受访者提出了一些开展公众参与的理由和障碍。
本调查进一步了解了 HTA 组织在实践中使用的公众参与方法。特别是，这表明迄今为止参与式方法的采用有限，并且对使用社交媒体感兴趣。由于与调查回复相关的限制，研究结果需要进一步确认。有很大的机会进一步研究实用、稳健和有意义的公众参与方法，以加强 HTA 政策和决策框架。从调查回复中提出了未来研究的议程。
