Exploring the impact of evaluation on learning and health innovation sustainability: protocol for a realist synthesis

BACKGROUND: Within the Learning Health System (LHS) model, learning routines, including evaluation, allow for continuous incremental change to take place. Within these learning routines, evaluation assists in problem identification, data collection, and data transformation into contextualized information, which is then re-applied to the LHS environment. Evaluation that catalyzes learning and improvement may also contribute to health innovation sustainability. However, there is little consensus as to why certain evaluations seem to support learning and sustainability, while others impede it. This realist synthesis seeks to understand the contextual factors and underlying mechanisms or drivers that best support health systems learning and sustainable innovation. METHODS: This synthesis will be guided by Pawson and colleagues’ 2005 and Emmel and colleagues’ 2018 guidelines for conducting realist syntheses. The review process will encompass five steps: (1) scoping the review, (2) building theories, (3) identifying the evidence, (4) evidence selection and appraisal, and (5) data extraction and synthesis. An Expert Committee comprised of leaders in evaluation, innovation, sustainability, and realist methodology will guide this synthesis. Review findings will be reported using the RAMESES guidelines. DISCUSSION: The use of a realist review will allow for exploration and theorizing about the contextual factors and underlying mechanisms that make evaluations ‘work’ (or ‘not work’) to support learning and sustainability. Depending on results, we will attempt to synthesize findings into a series of recommendations for evaluations with the intention to support health systems learning and sustainability. Finalized results will be presented at national and international conferences, as well as disseminated via a peer-reviewed publication. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: This realist synthesis protocol has been registered with PROSPERO (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ ID 382690). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13643-023-02348-5.