Complex interventions in healthcare and health informatics: a scoping review

Abstract

Complex interventions are pervasive in healthcare. There is a need to make sense of complex interventions to support their better development, implementation and evaluation. This paper summarizes the results of a scoping review undertaken to identify attributes of, and logistical considerations for complex interventions in healthcare. Results suggest five distinct attributes that can assist researchers to identify, conduct, and appraise complex interventions studies. Considerations for applying results to evaluate complex health informatics interventions are discussed.