Equity focused workshops: Developing a supplementary method to judge the equity of health interventions

Systematic reviews that consider the equity of interventions are an important method. However, this approach can be limited when analyses of inequity for a specific intervention are rare. We aimed to develop and pilot Equity-Focused Workshops (EFWs), a method to supplement evidence synthesis approaches when primary studies do not report data about intervention equity. A workshop protocol was developed with methods experts, focusing on understanding equitable access to interventions between socioeconomic groups. We tested the protocol in three workshops with populations experiencing material disadvantage, using two hypothetical interventions. Data were collected about participants' views of the intervention, including acceptability and accessibility. Data were summarised and reviewed to appraise the utility of the method to judge intervention equity between socioeconomic groups. Seventeen participants discussed numerous reasons why they might find it difficult to engage with the interventions. These barriers were material, non-material, and offered insight into the ways in which interventions may exclude disadvantaged populations. Issues of stigma, professionals' understanding of material difficulties, and the costs incurred by participants using the interventions were highlighted. EFWs can offer preliminary insights into whether health interventions are likely to exclude populations experiencing material disadvantage. There is value in this approach to supplement evidence syntheses.