Birmingham Critical Appraisal Skills Programme


Background

The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) was developed in Oxford in 1993 and has over the past ten years helped to develop an evidence based approach in health and social care, working with local, national and international partner organisations. CASP’s workshops and resources aim to help participants put knowledge into practice by learning how to systematically formulate questions, find research evidence, appraise research evidence and act on research evidence.

CASP came to Birmingham with Dr Amanda Burls, one of the founders of CASP in Oxford. Amanda has also played a key role in the development of CASP International (CASPin), a non-profit making organisation for people promoting skills in finding, critically appraising and acting on research evidence. CASPin has been an informal network since 1998, but adopted a formal constitution and executive committee in 2003. CASPin is also largely based on the work of CASP Oxford. A similar critical appraisal skills programme was started in Spain (CASPe) in 1997 and further networks grew up in Hungary, Poland, Romania, Japan, Norway and India. Many individuals have organised CASP workshops in about 30 other countries, settings and audiences, particularly South America, and Central and Eastern Europe.