24/03/2008 - Submitted by: Argyro Kazaki

The project Getting Evidence into practice (GEP) ran from February 2004-July 2005 and was funded by the European Commission (DG Sanco).

Aims
The overall aim of the project was to broaden the evidence base and strengthen collaboration among the key stakeholders (agencies, practitioners and researchers) in the form of a European consortium for evidence based health promotion. 

Objectives
Haven taken these strategic aims as a starting points, a number of operational objectives were derived for the different stages of the project.

Strand One:

• to develop a consensus-based protocol on how to select and analyse documents, literature and expertise from research, practice and policies and on how to assess and summarize evidence
•  to carry out a feasibility test for the protocol

Strand Two: 

• an inventory of existing assessment protocols to increase quality of planning and implementation of health promotion projects
•  reaching a consensus on an assessment protocol and a set of guidelines to increase quality of planning and implementation of health promotion projects to be used by health promotion professionals in the EU members states
• pilot testing the consensus-based assessment tool (EQUIHP) and quality guidelines adn develop a user manual.

Strand Three stimulated a process of peer input on a newly accessible body of knowledge being published to improve the effectiveness of health promotion and practice. This strand of the project examined four subject areas:

• tobacco
• mental health
•  health promotion infrastructures
•  getting evidence into practice (including capacity building aspects).

Results and findings of the project have been presented at the 6th IUHPE European Conference on the Effectiveness and Quality of Health Promotion: Evidence for practice, 1-4 June 2005.