Course package on Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs)

Overview

Embracing the full complexity of health systems requires systems thinking skills. Causal loop diagrams (CLDs) is one tool that can be used to help understand and explore systems problems.

“Systems Tools for Complex Health Systems” is a new course package coordinated by the Alliance to help public health practitioners build skills in developing CLDs that challenge existing mental models and assumptions about the complex system under investigation. The course uses a case study approach to the development and use of causal loop diagrams. In the process, it incorporates a number of other systems thinking tools including: rich pictures, boundary determinations, behaviour-over-time graphs and interrelationship diagraphs.

The aim of the course is to build skills in developing causal loop diagrams, and utilizing these CLDs to understand the complex adaptive characteristics of the system under investigation and to identify key leverage points.

Target audience

Public health students, public health practitioners, including policy makers, people engaged in programme implementation and programme evaluation, as well as researchers.

This work was coordinated by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada.