Table 2 Factors that favor guidelines influencing practice

Development group

▪ Right people with appropriate skills in the group

▪ Including representatives of people expected to implement the guidelines and beneficiaries

▪ Working of the group – group process, dialogue, consensus building, effective leadership

Development and presentation of guidelines

▪ Are end users clearly defined?

▪ Is the problem or issue clearly defined?

▪ Is the presentation clear? Do we need to test for clarity?

▪ How we should we present the guidelines for the different target audiences?

▪ Will the chosen medium (booklet, posters, pocket card) be sufficiently durable?

Dissemination of guidelines

▪ Are we sure about the target users of the guidelines? How can we best reach them?

▪ In what form should the guidelines be published and disseminated?

▪ Systems of regular dissemination may be considered

▪ Monitoring and evaluating dissemination

▪ Planning for financial costs of dissemination

Implementing guidelines

▪ Having means to support implementation

▪ Incentives to implement guidelines

Evaluation and revision of guidelines

▪ How will we know the guidelines have been received, read, respected, and locally promoted?

▪ Methods required for assessment

▪ Is there a clear means of evaluation?

▪ Are there key indicators to measure implementation?

▪ What is the expected outcome and how can it be measured

▪ How often should the guidelines be reviewed or reformulated?

▪ Who is responsible for initiating review?

▪ How will reviewed guidelines be disseminated to replace redundant versions?