Développer des interventions de prévention et de promotion de la santé fondées sur les données probantes : la Démarche EValuation Action (DEVA)

Abstract

While scientific knowledge informing how to prevent main public health problems builds up since decades, the gap between professional practice and scientific evidence remains important. Regarding disease prevention and health promotion, professionals – including psychologists – aim at enriching their practice by relying on scientific knowledge. However, barriers to knowledge transfer remain. Here we present the Evaluation-Action Approach (DEVA), which has been created to overcome such barriers and provide an operational tool to practitioners willing to use the best available data. This article describes this new project methodology, which is anchored in the evidence-based paradigm, and has been developed based on methodological tools in French, along with assessment practices from different academic disciplines. It has been pre-tested and improved in an academic context and then tested with practitioners (locally and nationally). The DEVA comprises three stages and twelve steps, four of which are evaluations. These evaluative steps aim at checking whether, at each stage, the best available data are used and that the (working and health) objectives are reached. The DEVA can contribute to the need of methodological innovation and the development of professional and practical skills. This project methodology provides an operating procedure to facilitate knowledge transfer and the development of evidence-based prevention and health promotion interventions.