Please note this application is under active development. If you spot any errors or something isn't working, please contact us at evidence.service@wales.nhs.uk.
Please note: this map is currently a beta version and feedback is encouraged before finalisation. Please send any feedback to evidence.service@wales.nhs.uk
This digital evidence map aims to bring together and organises current secondary level research evidence of a good methodological standard, on interventions to improve dietary behaviours among adults. It includes sources of evidence that sit at the top of the evidence pyramid i.e. robustly conducted systematic reviews & evidence-based guidelines, to give practitioners and decision makers access to reliable and methodologically sound research, which can be used to help inform practice and decision making.
It has been developed to support researchers, public health practitioners, and decision-makers in Wales to better understand what works, for whom and in what context.
Sixteen databases/websites (detailed in the map protocol, available on request) have been searched for guidelines and reviews produced using a robust methodology adhering to systematic review principles. The search has been limited to these sources as we are confident that reviews and guidelines included within them or produced by them utilise a robust methodology. This means that all the included sources in the map have used a comprehensive and transparent search strategy, have selected sources based on stated criteria and have assessed the risk of bias in the primary studies included within them.
Reviews and guidelines meeting the map’s inclusion criteria have been categorised by population group and intervention type, and displayed digitally on the heat map. Reviews may appear in several categories if they include, for example, research on multiple types of intervention or multiple population groups. We have also included the target level of interventions as part of our categorisation, in the following format:
These broad target levels have been drawn from a socioecological model used previously in a systematic review assessing sugar sweetened beverage intake interventions (Lane H, et al. 2016).
The settings in which relevant interventions included in the reviews have been undertaken have been recorded, along with the relevant outcomes measured in the review. You can use the filter boxes at the top of the map to filter the heat map to only show reviews which include relevant studies conducted in particular settings, or reviews that include studies measuring a particular outcome i.e. fruit & vegetable intake, sugar sweetened beverage intake, etc.
You can click into each box on the heat map to display the list of reviews/guidelines that include evidence within that category, and then further click into each reference to view a summary page for that particular review. The summary pages for each review contain information such as the review aims, findings and conclusions, taken directly from the publication. We have not conducted any of our own synthesis or interpretation of the findings, but rather have displayed the original authors findings and conclusions so that those viewing the map can see a snapshot of the research, to decide whether they may want to explore the source further. Only review findings relevant to this particular map topic have been categorised, so you may find the reviews cover a broader range of topics, and include additional information that did not meet this map’s inclusion criteria.
The map is designed to point users in the direction of research evidence that has been synthesised in a way which we know to be methodologically robust, and therefore may be a more reliable base upon which to start thinking about informing decisions. However, our searches are targeted and not exhaustive or comprehensive. Therefore, evidence in the map does not represent the entirety of the evidence base for interventions aiming to change dietary behaviours. Reviews within it should be used as part of a wider strategy for gathering evidence, and not used solely as the basis for decision making, without further interrogation and examination into their applicability for Wales.
As the map only includes secondary evidence synthesis from a limited range of sources, users should note that new or more innovative interventions which have not yet been subject to robust evidence synthesis may also have not been included. The limited range of sources searched make it likely that additional comprehensive searches of bibliographic databases would identify a wider range of reviews. We would advise that additional reviews you identify be critically appraised to confirm their methodological quality. This map has also been limited to adults, so evidence for healthy eating interventions in children is not represented.
Please note, you may need to scroll horizontally to see all the categories of evidence in the table.