What happened next? A survey of review clients evaluating impacts of rapid reviews

End-user evaluation of the impact of evidence syntheses is critical to demonstrating value. This study presents results of a survey evaluating the impact of rapid reviews undertaken by two teams based in Melbourne, Australia, and Hamilton, Canada.

Clients were invited to participate in a short written survey following delivery of a rapid review. Survey items encompassed reach, usefulness and format; interactions with the review teams; and overall satisfaction.

Twenty-five completed surveys from 53 invitations were received pertaining to 19 rapid reviews conducted between September 2021 and October 2023. Topics encompassed COVID-19, health and behavior change; reports were an average of 31 pages; and were delivered over an average of 62 days. Evaluation findings were positive, with high satisfaction with reports and service delivery; very high satisfaction with report structure and length; good evidence of reach (reports read by decision makers and cited in other documents); and evidence that the rapid reviews made contributions to strategic planning, policy and program funding decisions.

Rapid reviews are making impactful contributions, alongside other inputs, to policy and practice. Further research is required to build this evaluation dataset; examine the balance between timeliness and methodological rigor in evidence synthesis; and explore models of delivery and capacity within and outside of government. It is also critical to promote implementation efforts to harness the full potential of rapid reviews and other evidence syntheses to impact the lives of citizens.