BackgroundCollaborative writing applications (eg, wikis and Google Documents) hold the potential to improve the use of evidence in both public health and health care. The rapid rise in their use has created the need for a systematic synthesis of the evidence of their impact as knowledge translation (KT) tools in the health care sector and for an inventory of the factors that affect their use.ObjectiveThrough the Levac six-stage methodology, a scoping review was undertaken to explore the depth and breadth of evidence about the effective, safe, and ethical use of wikis and collaborative writing applications (CWAs) in health care.MethodsMultiple strategies were used to locate studies. Seven scientific databases and 6 grey literature sources were queried for articles on wikis and CWAs published between 2001 and September 16, 2011. In total, 4436 citations and 1921 grey literature items were screened. Two reviewers independently reviewed citations, selected eligible studies, and extracted data using a standardized form. We included any paper presenting qualitative or quantitative empirical evidence concerning health care and CWAs. We defined a CWA as any technology that enables the joint and simultaneous editing of a webpage or an online document by many end users. We performed qualitative content analysis to identify the factors that affect the use of CWAs using the Gagnon framework and their effects on health care using the Donabedian framework.ResultsOf the 111 studies included, 4 were experimental, 5 quasi-experimental, 5 observational, 52 case studies, 23 surveys about wiki use, and 22 descriptive studies about the quality of information in wikis. We classified them by theme: patterns of use of CWAs (n=26), quality of information in existing CWAs (n=25), and CWAs as KT tools (n=73). A high prevalence of CWA use (ie, more than 50%) is reported in 58% (7/12) of surveys conducted with health care professionals and students. However, we found only one longitudinal study showing that CWA use is increasing in health care. Moreover, contribution rates remain low and the quality of information contained in different CWAs needs improvement. We identified 48 barriers and 91 facilitators in 4 major themes (factors related to the CWA, users’ knowledge and attitude towards CWAs, human environment, and organizational environment). We also found 57 positive and 23 negative effects that we classified into processes and outcomes.ConclusionsAlthough we found some experimental and quasi-experimental studies of the effectiveness and safety of CWAs as educational and KT interventions, the vast majority of included studies were observational case studies about CWAs being used by health professionals and patients. More primary research is needed to find ways to address the different barriers to their use and to make these applications more useful for different stakeholders.

RESULTS suggest that IIs could be appropriate to favour the maintenance of physical activity among inactive obese older adults. However, this technique seems to have limited impacts over and above common intervention activities on weight loss.

Objective: Collaborative writing applications (CWAs), such as the Google Docs TM platform, can improve skill acquisition, knowledge retention, and collaboration in medical education. Using CWAs to support the training of residents offers many advantages, but stimulating them to contribute remains challenging. The purpose of this study was to identify emergency medicine (EM) residents' beliefs about their intention to contribute summaries of landmark articles to a Google Docs TM slideshow while studying for their RoyalCollege of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) certification exam. Method: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, the authors interviewed graduating RCPSC EM residents about contributing to a slideshow. Residents were asked about behavioral beliefs (advantages/disadvantages), normative beliefs (positive/negative referents), and control beliefs (barriers/facilitators). Two reviewers independently performed qualitative content analysis of interview transcripts to identify salient beliefs in relation to the defined behaviors.Results: Of 150 eligible EM residents, 25 participated. The main reported advantage of contributing to the online slideshow was learning consolidation (n = 15); the main reported disadvantage was information overload (n = 3). The most frequently reported favorable referents were graduating EM residents writing the certification exam (n = 16). Few participants (n = 3) perceived any negative referents. The most frequently reported facilitator was peerreviewed high-quality scientific information (n = 9); and the most frequently reported barrier was time constraints (n = 22). Conclusion: Salient beliefs exist regarding EM residents' intention to contribute content to an online collaborative writing project using a Google Docs TM slideshow. Overall, participants perceived more advantages than disadvantages to contributing and believed that this initiative would receive wide support. However, participants reported several barriers that need to be addressed to increase contributions. Our intention is for the beliefs identified in this study to contribute to the design of a theory-based questionnaire to explore determinants of residents' intentions to contribute to an online collaborative writing project. This will help develop implementation strategies for increasing contributions to other CWAs in medical education. RÉSUMÉObjectif: Les applications d'écriture collective (AEC), telles que la plateforme Google Docs TM , peuvent améliorer l'acquisition des compétences, la conservation du savoir et la collaboration en formation médicale. Ainsi, les AEC utilisées à l'appui de la formation donnée aux résidents offrent de nombreux avantages, mais la contribution au contenu relève du défi. L'étude décrite ici avait pour but de recueillir l'opinion des résidents en médecine d'urgence (MU) sur leur intention de présenter des résumés d'article novateur dans un diaporama Google Docs pendant qu'ils se préparaient à leur examen de certification du Collège royal des médecins et chirurgiens ...

Results suggest that self-posed questions about a future action increases the likelihood of doing it when these questions are not accompanied by measures of moral norm. This provides support for using introspective self-talk to favour the adoption of behaviour.

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