Evaluating Complexity

Speaker: Professor Sarah Stewart-Brown from the University of Warwick

This session will address key issues surrounding evaluation of complex interventions particularly those addressing health improvement and the development of wellbeing. Whilst it is essential that these interventions are evaluated and there are guidelines on how to do it, there are no magic bullets.  The principles that are applied in current guidelines derive from a century when health improvement could be achieved by addressing the prevention of individual diseases with single causative factors. 21st century public health demands that we address diseases with multiple risk factors and factors that increase the risk of multiple diseases. Most of these risk factors interact with, and potentiate the risk from one another; and they are primarily under the control of the individual. Applying a wellbeing framework helps to highlight all these issues and illustrate the inadequacy of recommended approaches. 

Sarah Stewart-Brown will set the scene, Jo Ellins will act as discussant and all attendees will contribute to discussion as to how we develop this aspect of academic practice.