Evidence Base

A key element of developing any Model of Care, is evaluation of the evidence base. This work is supported by HSE National Library Services.

Evidence base is a term that encompasses many elements,

  • Clinical research such as clinical trials or epidemiological studies.
  • Audit data.
  • ‘Grey literature’

‘Grey literature’ refers to clinical data that may have been generated but not published. For example, it may have been presented at an academic conference but not published. As it has not been published, it has not been put through a peer review process and so should be interpreted with caution.

A peer review process is the standard process used to inform decision making for scientific publications. Peer review involves an assessment by colleagues in a relevant field of expertise. The goal is to advise the editor of the specific academic journal if the academic paper is of sufficient quality to warrant publication.

Peer Review should be via independent individuals with expertise in the area. They should not be connected to the decision-making body or those who have prepared the material being reviewed.

In the development of our Model of Care, we have begun our review of the evidence base with two initial questions (additional clinical questions may arise as the Working Groups begin to develop the Model of Care):

What are the clinical outcomes of medical transition?

  1. A review of the evidence base is planned with respect to known clinical outcomes in medical transition: details on this systematic review are registered on PROSPERO (www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero) under registration number CRD42024596567
  2. This work is underway, with the support of the HSE Library Service.
  3. Interim results of this systematic review will be made available for public review.
  4. If any member of the public feels that an important academic paper, that has been published in a peer reviewed journal, has been omitted, there will be an opportunity to submit it for consideration.
  5. Any submitted papers will be reviewed in line with the inclusion and exclusion criteria in the PROSPERO registered protocol: please see www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero under registration number CRD42024596567

What clinical needs are known to exist in the population that are attending, or may attend, gender healthcare services?

  1. A review of the evidence base is planned with respect to co-existing clinical needs in gender diverse people: this is registered as a systematic review on PROSPERO (www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero) under registration number CRD42024596562
  2. This work is underway, with support for the HSE Library Service.
  3. Interim results of this review will be made available as the review progresses.
  4. If any member of the public feels that an important academic paper, that has been published in a peer reviewed journal, has been omitted, there will be an opportunity to submit it for consideration.
  5. Any submitted papers will be reviewed in line with the inclusion and exclusion criteria in the PROSPERO registered protocol: please see www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero under registration number CRD42024596562.

As this work progresses, we will be updating this page with our findings.