Improving social justice in observational studies

Population and public health is concerned not just with overall health but also the distribution of health in the population. Observational studies are conducted in real-world settings. Thus, they are ideal to understand the distribution of health inequity and monitor changes in response to policies over time. Observational studies often do not report/analyze sufficient details related to social determinants of health, thus undermining their ability to inform decisions with implications for social justice. This project aims to develop a reporting guideline on health equity in observational studies using an evidence and consensus-driven integrated knowledge translation process. This will extend the well-known STROBE (STrengthening Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology) reporting guideline. The project is novel in co-producing knowledge with Indigenous people, people in low and middle income countries and socially excluded people with diverse stakeholders including patients/public, researchers and decision-makers. We will apply an equity and sex/gender lens throughout. Data will be collected on analysis and reporting of health equity and sex/gender in observational studies. Existing journal and funding guidance will be reviewed. We will use an online global survey to seek broad feedback. We will hold a consensus meeting with researchers, patients/public and knowledge users to draft a global reporting guideline on health equity in observational studies. We will assess the applicability of this guideline to Indigenous research in Canada using a parallel process and consensus meeting. We will develop, implement and evaluate an end of grant knowledge translation strategy which will include pragmatic tools for authors and journal editors. Trainees will co-lead studies with mentorship from senior coinvestigators. The long-term vision is to improve transparent reporting of equity to inform policy and practice in reducing health inequities.