Abstract
Background: With healthcare providers experiencing increasing demand to evaluate clinical service delivery, it is necessary to explore evaluation methodologies that can accommodate the complexities and contextual factors in health-care systems and human systems in general. Methodologies must also be comprehensible to clinicians. Programme theory is one such methodology.
Content: This paper presents a brief description of programme theory methodology and a case study of the use of this approach in a custom wheelchair seating service for people with spinal cord injury.
Conclusions: Programme theory is a useful methodology for examining how a service operates and whether it achieves what it sets out to do. It is essential that clinicians challenge and test their assumptions about their services and act on information obtained in order to continuously improve service delivery.