title: A Manual for Prioritizing the Topics of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Family Physicians.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Development of a manual or well-defined criterion for prioritizing the topics of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) will help validate and organize this process evermore. This study was conducted to design an applicable manual that would prioritize the CPG topics for family physicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a multi-stage method using a qualitative approach that was conducted for the manual developing. The manual development process took place in four steps, as follows: Literature review, interviews with ten experts, preparing a list of criteria and determining its appropriateness by applying the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness method, and development of the final draft of the manual and pilot study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Interview transcripts went under content analysis and were classified into eight main groups, 12 subgroups, and 85 themes. A comprehensive list consisting of fifty preliminary criteria were extracted. After summarizing and classifying the criteria, 12 appropriate criteria were evaluated using the RAND appropriateness method. Eventually, based on the literature review and our own results of the interview analysis, a manual consisting of five main sections and one clause on ethics was developed. Later, a pilot study was conducted on ten family physician topics, and prioritized by nine experts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The manual can be eyed as a tool ensuring the quality of the process of prioritizing CPG topics for family physicians, as it takes into account the issues involved in priority-setting. Selecting informed stakeholders for rating the criteria and ranking the topics was an issue that was greatly emphasized by the experts. Eventually, the application of this manual can be the first step toward systematizing the process of prioritizing CPG topics in the country.
authors.affiliation: Center for Academic and Health Policy, and Knowledge Utilization Research Centre, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mounesan
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Azadeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sayarifard
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Haghjou
authors.affiliation: Community Based Participatory Research Center, Iranian Institute for Reduction of High-Risk Behaviors, and Center for Academic and Health Policy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Laleh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ghadirian
authors.affiliation: Center for Academic and Health Policy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rajabi
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Knowledge Utilization Research Centre, School of Public Health, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Saharnaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nedjat
keywords: Clinical practice guideline; family physician; guidelines as topics; health priorities