Examining and Contextualizing Approaches to Establish Policy Support Organizations – A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

Sabahi, Sultana Al; Wilson, Michael G.; Lavis, John N.; El‐Jardali, Fadi; Moat, Kaelan A.; Vélez, Marcela

doi:10.34172/ijhpm.2020.181

Cited by 11 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 73 publications

(631 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Despite the broad acknowledgements for the need and the growing establishment of organizational knowledge brokers for health policy-making, our practical and theoretical understanding about their creation, operationalization and in particular how they can, once in place, be sustained remains overall limited [12-14, 23, 32]. A few recent papers have addressed organizational aspects of units in support of EIP [12,30,31,[33][34][35], such as Zida et al, who conducted a case study on the institutionalization of a rapid response unit in Burkina Faso [30,35], Al Sabahi et al with their critical interpretative synthesis on approaches to establishing policy support organizations [34], and Koon et al 's scoping review on institutionalizing knowledge for health policy in low-and middle-income countries [31]. The time is now ripe to look across and beyond case studies to consider EIP institutionalization more comprehensively by analysing both theoretical papers and empirical studies.…”

Section: Who's Global Efforts In Promoting and Institutionalizing Eipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A range of principles, or values (see Fig. 2b), are proposed, which include inclusive/participatory governance and shared responsibilities [46,73], evidence-based approach [46,74], ongoing adaptation, learning and flexibility [34,62,74], system thinking [70,75], credibility [62,76], legitimacy [44,62], transparency and accountability [76,77], independence/autonomy [64,78] and complexity [79] 4 (see Additional file 4, pp. 23-4).…”

Section: The Six Domains Of Eip Institutionalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Domains and processes for institutionalizing evidence-informed health policy-making: a critical interpretive synthesis

Kuchenmüller

Boeira²,

Oliver

et al. 2022

Health Res Policy Sys

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background While calls for institutionalization of evidence-informed policy-making (EIP) have become stronger in recent years, there is a paucity of methods that governments and organizational knowledge brokers can use to sustain and integrate EIP as part of mainstream health policy-making. The objective of this paper was to conduct a knowledge synthesis of the published and grey literatures to develop a theoretical framework with the key features of EIP institutionalization. Methods We applied a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) that allowed for a systematic, yet iterative and dynamic analysis of heterogeneous bodies of literature to develop an explanatory framework for EIP institutionalization. We used a “compass” question to create a detailed search strategy and conducted electronic searches to identify papers based on their potential relevance to EIP institutionalization. Papers were screened and extracted independently and in duplicate. A constant comparative method was applied to develop a framework on EIP institutionalization. The CIS was triangulated with the findings of stakeholder dialogues that involved civil servants, policy-makers and researchers. Results We identified 3001 references, of which 88 papers met our eligibility criteria. This CIS resulted in a definition of EIP institutionalization as the “process and outcome of (re-)creating, maintaining and reinforcing norms, regulations, and standard practices that, based on collective meaning and values, actions as well as endowment of resources, allow evidence to become—over time—a legitimate and taken-for-granted part of health policy-making”. The resulting theoretical framework comprised six key domains of EIP institutionalization that capture both structure and agency: (1) governance; (2) standards and routinized processes; (3) partnership, collective action and support; (4) leadership and commitment; (5) resources; and (6) culture. Furthermore, EIP institutionalization is being achieved through five overlapping stages: (i) precipitating events; (ii) de-institutionalization; (iii) semi-institutionalization (comprising theorization and diffusion); (iv) (re)-institutionalization; and (v) renewed de-institutionalization processes. Conclusions This CIS advances the theoretical and conceptual discussions on EIP institutionalization, and provides new insights into an evidence-informed framework for initiating, strengthening and/or assessing efforts to institutionalize EIP.

show abstract

Section: Who's Global Efforts In Promoting and Institutionalizing Eipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Six Domains Of Eip Institutionalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domains and processes for institutionalizing evidence-informed health policy-making: a critical interpretive synthesis

Kuchenmüller

Boeira²,

Oliver

et al. 2022

Health Res Policy Sys

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…22,23 We used the critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) approach to a literature review, because both literatures are heterogenous, span decades of work published both in books, scientific articles, essays, and reports, and our aim was explicitly to interpret and combine their heterogeneous theoretical backgrounds into new insights. 12,14,24 Following Dixon-Woods et al, 24 our CIS consisted of three cycles (see Figure 1). First, we systematically searched relevant health literature databases and identified all (a) recent systematic reviews, (b) case-studies, and (c) conceptual articles that related to the sustainability of KT practices.…”

Section: Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustaining Knowledge Translation Practices: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

Borst

Wehrens

Bal

2022

Int J Health Policy Manag

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The health policy and systems research literature increasingly observes that knowledge translation (KT) practices are difficult to sustain. An important issue is that it remains unclear what sustainability of KT practices means and how it can be improved. The aim of this study was thus to identify and explain those processes, activities, and efforts in the literature that facilitate the sustaining of KT practices in health policymaking processes. Methods: We used a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) to review the health policy and systems research and Science and Technology Studies (STS) literature. The STS literature was included as to enrich the review with constructivist social scientific perspectives on sustainability and KT. The CIS methodology allowed for creating new theory by critically combining both literatures. We searched the literature by using PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and qualitative sampling. Searches were guided by pre-set eligibility criteria and all entries were iteratively analysed using thematic synthesis. Results: Eighty documents were included. Our synthesis suggests a shift from sustainability as an end-goal towards sustaining as actors’ relatively mundane work aimed at making and keeping KT practices productive. This ‘sustaining work’ is an interplay of three processes: i) translating, ii) contexting, and iii) institutionalising. Translating refers to activities aimed at constructing and extending networks. Contexting emphasises the activities needed to create contexts that support KT practices. Institutionalising addresses how actors create, maintain, and disrupt institutions with the aim of sustaining KT practices. Conclusion: The ‘sustaining work’ perspective of our CIS emphasises KT actors’ ongoing work directed at sustaining KT practices. We suggest that this perspective can guide empirical study of sustaining work and that these empirical insights, combined with this CIS, can inform training programmes for KT actors, and thereby improve the sustainability of KT practices.

show abstract

“…Finally, the maturation stage focuses is ensuring sustainability over the long-term (More details about the framework can be found at Al Sabahi et al). 25 Using this framework, the data were analyzed using the constant comparative approach. 26 The open coding was started by classifying information into five main sections, which included the four stages in the framework and the contextual factors that facilitate or hinder the establishment.…”

Section: Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining and Contextualizing Approaches to Establish Policy Support Organizations – A Mixed Method Study

Sabahi

Wilson

Lavis

et al. 2021

Int J Health Policy Manag

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: There has been an increase in the number of policy support organizations (PSOs) that have been created to foster the systematic use of evidence in health system policymaking. Our aim was to identify approaches for establishing a PSO or similar entities by soliciting insights from those with practical experience with developing and operationalizing PSOs in real-world contexts. Methods: We used a sequential mixed method approached. We first conducted a survey to identify the views and experiences of those who were directly involved in the establishment of PSOs that have been developed and implemented across a variety of political-, health-and research-system contexts. The survey findings were then used to develop a purposive sample of PSO leaders and refine an interview guide for interviews with them. Results: We received 19 completed surveys from leaders of PSOs in countries across the WHO regions and that operate in different settings (eg, as independent organization or within a university or government department) and conducted interviews with 15 senior managers from nine PSOs. Our findings provide in-depth insights about approaches and strategies across four stages for establishing a PSO, which include: (i) building awareness for the PSO; (ii) developing the PSO; (iii) assessing the PSO to identify potential areas for enhancement; and (iv) supporting maturation to build sustainability in the long-term. Our findings provide rich insights about the process of establishing a PSO from leaders who have undertaken the process. Conclusion: While all PSOs share the same objective in supporting evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM), there is no single approach that can be considered to be the most successful in establishing a PSO, and each country should identify the approach based on its context.

show abstract

Examining and Contextualizing Approaches to Establish Policy Support Organizations – A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

Cited by 11 publications

References 73 publications

Domains and processes for institutionalizing evidence-informed health policy-making: a critical interpretive synthesis

Domains and processes for institutionalizing evidence-informed health policy-making: a critical interpretive synthesis

Sustaining Knowledge Translation Practices: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

Examining and Contextualizing Approaches to Establish Policy Support Organizations – A Mixed Method Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About