Evidence-based resources (EBRs) are published reviews of intervention evaluations and studies to improve health that have evidence of effectiveness, feasibility, reach, sustainability, and transferability. Federal subject matter experts with multidisciplinary backgrounds and areas of expertise identified the Healthy People 2030 EBRs.
Healthy People 2030 EBRs fall into 2 categories:
- Systematic reviews
- Non-systematic reviews
Systematic reviews
Some EBRs are formal, comprehensive systematic reviews. A systematic review is a critical assessment of all research studies that address a particular issue.
To perform systematic reviews, researchers use an organized method and specific criteria to find, gather, and evaluate a body of literature. Systematic reviews usually include a description of the overall findings, and they sometimes include a quantitative pooling of data, called a meta-analysis.
Examples of systematic reviews include:
- Recommendations of the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF)
- Recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)
- Cochrane Reviews
- Systematic reviews published in peer-reviewed journals
Non-systematic reviews
Other EBRs are non-systematic reviews. A non-systematic review is a critical assessment of some — but not all (i.e., non-comprehensive) — research studies that address a particular issue. Some non-systematic reviews include a meta-analysis, while others don’t. Federal initiatives and guidelines that are based on current science and address a public health problem can also be non-systematic reviews.
Examples of non-systematic reviews include:
- Scientific evidence briefs, such as from the National Academies of Science, Medicine, and Engineering
- Workshop proceedings, such as from the National Institutes of Health
- National health campaigns
- National strategies to improve health
- Science-based guidance documents
