Developing national best practice recommendations for harm reduction programmes: Lessons learned from a...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Community-Based Participatory Research

Background:

• Best practice recommendations are crucial for evidence-based service delivery in public health.
• National guidance for drug use programs often faces challenges with funding alignment and stakeholder needs, especially in harm reduction.
• Effective dissemination of best practice recommendations is vital for program improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To share experiences and insights from developing and disseminating best practice documents for Canadian harm reduction programs.
• To contribute to a transparent dialogue on team processes for creating effective best practice resources.
• To offer practical considerations for developing recommendations for drug use interventions.

Main Methods:

• Assembled a multi-stakeholder, cross-regional team with diverse expertise.
• Employed community-based principles and collaborative processes, including regular teleconferences.
• Integrated post-project insights from team members.

Main Results:

• Successfully developed and widely disseminated best practice documents for Canadian harm reduction programs.
• Team members reported valuable learning opportunities and mutual knowledge exchange.
• Identified missed opportunities for power-sharing with community partners.

Conclusions:

• Multi-stakeholder collaboration and diverse expertise are key to developing impactful best practice recommendations for harm reduction.
• Community-based principles and structured communication facilitate the creation of effective resources despite geographic distances.
• Continuous reflection on team processes, including power-sharing, is essential for optimizing collaborative development of health interventions.