Evidence-based practice guidelines in OHS: Are they AGREE-able?

Occupational health guidelines for mental disorders and stress-related complaints, a challenge for occupational health

“…The varying reporting quality of guidelines in OH is in accordance with earlier studies 4 5. A few years ago, the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, ZonMw, included the introduction of work-related aspects as an obligatory requirement in a national programme for funding of multidisciplinary guidelines in healthcare 6.…”

An international comparison of occupational health guidelines for the management of mental disorders and stress-related psychological symptoms

“…Although these studies were not exclusively focused on mental health problems, they also found that the ‘purpose and objective’ was well described in the guidelines, but that the stakeholder involvement, rigour of development, application and editorial independence was poorly reported 21 22 29 30 55. We found it difficult to extract the content of recommendations from the guidelines, since the recommendations were often presented in an unclear and/or ambiguous way (see AGREE scores on the domain ‘Clarity and presentation’).…”

A Knowledge Infrastructure for Occupational Safety and Health

“…Recent studies show that AGREE is a relevant and easy-to-use instrument to assess quality aspects of occupational health practice guidelines. 46,47 Other tools to rate quality of evidence and to grade the strength of recommendations include the GRADE system adopted by the Cochrane Collaboration, various scientific journals and guideline development organizations. 48, 49 The strength of a recommendation is determined by the balance between the quality of evidence, desirable and undesirable consequences of a decision, variability in values and preferences of stakeholders, and resource use.…”