Towards evidence-based, quality-controlled health promotion: the Dutch recognition system for health promotion interventions.
Registration or recognition systems for best-practice health promotion interventions may contribute to better quality assurance and control in health promotion practice. In the Netherlands, such a system has been developed and is being implemented aiming to provide policy makers and professionals with more information on the quality and effectiveness of available health promotion interventions and to promote use of good-practice and evidence-based interventions by health promotion organizations. The quality assessments are supervised by the Netherlands Organization for Public Health and the Environment and the Netherlands Youth Institute and conducted by two committees, one for interventions aimed at youth and one for adults. These committees consist of experts in the fields of research, policy and practice. Four levels of recognition are distinguished inspired by the UK Medical Research Council's evaluation framework for complex interventions to improve health: (i) theoretically sound, (ii) probable effectiveness, (iii) established effectiveness, and (iv) established cost effectiveness. Specific criteria have been set for each level of recognition, except for Level 4 which will be included from 2011. This point of view article describes and discusses the rationale, organization and criteria of this Dutch recognition system and the first experiences with the system.
Brug
Johannes
J
EMGO Institute for Health.are Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. j.brug@vumc.nl
van Dale
Djoeke
D
Lanting
Loes
L
Kremers
Stef
S
Veenhof
Cindy
C
Leurs
Mariken
M
van Yperen
Tom
T
Kok
Gerjo
G
D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011786:Quality Control