Development, Adaptation, and Use of Living Guidelines in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Living guidelines are an innovative method for ensuring that clinical practice recommendations are made on time and updated as soon as new research findings become available.However, much is not known about the barriers and facilitators to developing, adapting, and using living guidelines in low- and middle-income countries. This thesis explored the barriers and facilitators to the development, adaptation, and use of living guidelines among evidence-based guideline developers in low- and middle-income countries and found that guideline developers in LMICs have a strong need to develop and use living guidelines, but significant impediments currently hamper them. Recommendations to address these barriers and enablers to the development, adaptation, and implementation of living guidelines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) were developed, supported by a conceptual framework.