The experiences of 33 national COVID-19 dashboard teams during the first year of the pandemic in the WHO European Region: a qualitative study

Background: Governments across the WHO European Region prioritized dashboards for reporting COVID-19 data. The ubiquitous use of dashboards for public reporting is novel. This study explores the development of COVID-19 dashboards during the pandemic9s first year and common barriers, enablers and lessons from the experiences of teams responsible for their development. Methods: Multiple methods were applied to identify and recruit COVID-19 dashboard teams using a purposive, quota sampling approach. Semi-structured group interviews were conducted between April-June 2021. Using elaborative coding and thematic analysis, descriptive and explanatory themes were derived from interview data. A validation workshop with study participants was held in June 2021. Results: Eighty informants, representing 33 national COVID-19 dashboard teams across the WHO European Region participated. Most dashboards were launched swiftly in the first months of the pandemic, between February-May 2020. The urgency, intense workload, limited human resources, data and privacy constraints, and public scrutiny were common to the initial development stage. Themes related to barriers or enablers were identified pertaining to the pre-pandemic context, pandemic itself, people and processes, software, data, and users. Lessons emerged around the themes of simplicity, trust, partnership, software and data, and change. Conclusions: COVID-19 dashboards were developed in a learning-by-doing approach. The experiences of teams signal initial under-preparedness was compensated by high-level political endorsement, the professionalism of teams, accelerated data improvements, and immediate support of commercial software solutions. To leverage the full potential of dashboards, investments are needed at team-, national- and pan-European-level.