Practices for implementing effective public advisory groups of lay people or members of the general public

This report has been produced in response to a request from Alberta Health (AH). The objective was to perform a review of practices of engaging committees composed of lay people or members of the general public at international, national, provincial, and regional levels.

The review attempts to address the following questions:

• What scientific evidence is available about committees composed of lay people or members of the general public that are similar to the IHE Layperson Advisory Committee?
• What best practices models/options/bodies/applications for implementing effective committees of lay people or members of the general public are available (such as how best to inform the committee, process considerations, effective advice characteristics, areas for improvement, best structures, and governance)?
• What has been shown to work and what lessons have been learned?

The methodological approach to answering these questions was established a priori and included a synthesis review of the scientific research about practices of engaging committees composed of lay people or members of the general public with processes that are similar to those used for the IHE Layperson Advisory Committee.

Information Specialist: Dagmara Chojecki