Realist research in practice – informing a new TB policy in Georgia

In this talk, Professor Bruno Marchal, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp will illustrate the principles of realist evaluation using the case of the development of a new Tuberculosis control policy in Georgia.

‘Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem in Georgia. The initial analysis of the policymakers centred around the low levels of treatment adherence and low treatment success rates. In the highly privatised health system, the long treatments TB patients require are not necessarily a priority for private for-profit providers who care for TB patients. The Results4TB research project was launched to inform the process of developing the new policy and to assess it in terms of how it works, its cost, and adherence and treatment success rate. We adopted a theory-informed controlled trial design that includes a cost-effectiveness study and a realist evaluation.
We will focus specifically on the central role of the programme theory, how this theory was developed and how it informed not only the policy, but also the study design.’

This free talk is given in conjunction with the Realist Reviews and Realist Evaluation course, part of the Evidence-Based Healthcare programme.