DEVELOPING RECOMMENDATIONS TO PROMOTE THE UPTAKE OF RESEARCH INFORMATION IN CLINICAL-PRACTICE

This paper is aimed at highlighting some often overlooked aspects of t he development of recommendations for clinical practice, and at addres sing some of the key factors that can play a role as determinants of t he acceptability of recommendations in clinical practice by the target ed health care providers. It is contended that, even in areas of clini cal practice where clearcut recommendations could easily be drawn from the available evidence and apparently the issue at stake is just to t ransfer the appropriate message to the targeted audience, it is import ant to acknowledge-from the development stage of the recommendations-t he complexity and the role of non-scientific key determinants (i.e. be liefs, values, vested interests) of clinical behaviour.