HERO Dr Thavorn Group

Resources

Glossary

Health Technology Assessment: A multidisciplinary process that uses explicit methods to determine the value of a health technology at different points in its lifecycle. The purpose is to inform decision-making in order to promote an equitable, efficient, and high-quality health system (1).

Economic Evaluations: A specific type of health economic analysis that explicitly compare the costs (use of resources) and consequences (effects) of the health intervention(s) in question to an alternative course of action, known as the comparator (2).

Cost Effectiveness Analysis: A form of comparative economic analysis that evaluates two or more policy alternatives in terms of their relative costs and outcomes, where the outcomes are measured in a single natural unit (e.g. life-years gained, disease case averted etc) (2).

Cost Benefit Analysis: A form of comparative economic analysis that evaluates two or more policy alternatives in terms of their relative costs and outcomes, where both the costs and outcomes are expressed in monetary terms (2).

Cost Minimization Analysis: A form of comparative economic analysis that compares the costs of two or more policy alternatives which are all assumed to have equivalent health effects (2).  

Cost Utility Analysis: A form of comparative economic analysis that evaluates two or more policy alternatives in terms of their relative costs and outcomes, where the outcomes are expressed by a generic measure of health status that considers both the effect on mortality and morbidity (e.g., quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) (2).

Patient Engagement: Meaningful and active collaboration between researchers and patient partners in governance, priority setting, conducting research, and knowledge translation. Depending on the context, patient-oriented research may also engage people who bring the collective voice of specific, affected communities (3).

Patient Partner: An overarching term inclusive of anyone with lived experience of a health condition, including patients, caregivers, and family members, who are actively involved in research beyond simply being a research participant. This engagement can involve various roles, like participating on governing boards, co-developing research methodology, or contributing to knowledge translation (4).

Scoping Review: A type of literature review that aims to systematically map the breadth of evidence on a specific topic, identifying key concepts, research gaps, and the types of evidence available (5).  

Umbrella Review: A systematic collection and assessment of multiple systematic reviews and meta-analyses on a specific research topic (6).

Delphi Survey: A structured technique to gather expert opinions on a specific topic through multiple rounds of anonymous questionnaires, aiming to achieve a consensus or convergence of views. An eDelphi uses software designed for the qualitative processes of the Delphi method (7).