Robert West

A multinational Delphi consensus to end the COVID-19 public health threat

Nature · 2022 · 234 citations

in the management of pandemic responses. The findings of the study, which have been further endorsed by 184 organizations globally, include points of unanimous agreement, as well as six recommendations with >5% disagreement, that provide health and social policy actions to address inadequacies in the pandemic response and help to bring this public health threat to an end.

Development of an Intervention Population Ontology for specifying the characteristics of intervention participants

Wellcome Open Research · 2025-03-05 · 5 citations

<ns3:p>Background The uptake, effectiveness and generalisability of interventions are influenced by the features of the populations targeted. However, populations exposed to interventions are not consistently specified in published reports. Purpose To create an Intervention Population Ontology providing a clear, usable and reliable classification system to specify characteristics of populations exposed to interventions. Methods The Intervention Population Ontology was developed in seven main sta…

OntoSpreadEd: Developing Ontologies with a Dedicated Online Template Spreadsheet Editor

Wellcome Open Research · 2025-07-25 · 5 citations

<ns3:p>Background Ontologies are machine-readable representations of knowledge that can accelerate research across various disciplines. To build ontologies, domain scientists must formally capture their knowledge of their domains in structured forms. However, existing ontology editing tools are often built for ontologists or other technical experts who are familiar with the underlying Web Ontology Language (OWL) and are comfortable working with technically dense interfaces, or even without a vis…

Linking behaviour change techniques to mechanisms of action: Using the Theory and Techniques Tool alongside the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology

Wellcome Open Research · 2025-04-11 · 3 citations

<ns3:p>Background Understanding how interventions work requires clear hypotheses, rigorous testing, and accurate reporting of links between behaviour change techniques (BCTs)—the smallest replicable active components of interventions—and mechanisms of action (MoAs), the processes through which behaviour changes. The Theory and Technique Tool (TaTT) provides a grid of likely BCT-MoA links to guide intervention design, based on literature synthesis and expert consensus. Recently, the Behaviour Cha…

Development of an Ontology of Engagement with Behaviour Change Interventions

Wellcome Open Research · 2025-08-04 · 2 citations

<ns3:p> Background Participants’ engagement with behaviour change interventions is crucial for their effectiveness. However, engagement is conceptualised and measured inconsistently across research domains, limiting the ability to compare and synthesise evidence about engagement and identify strategies to enhance engagement. This study aimed to develop an ontology—a classification framework—to precisely specify and define aspects of engagement with behaviour change interventions. Methods The Int…