The use of academic research in public health policy and practice

Lemay, Margaret A.; Sá, Creso M.

doi:10.1093/reseval/rvt029

Cited by 18 publications

(27 citation statements)

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“…One possible explanation for the underutilization of research is that capacity to use research is minimal (Howlett ). For instance, a recent case study of a public health unit in Ontario provided insight on the importance of organizational capacity to enabling research use (Lemay and Sá ). Previous scholarship thus underscores a need to develop a more nuanced understanding of the capacity to use research in the Canadian policy context.…”

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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Research use capacity in provincial governments

Sá¹,

Hamlin²

2015

Can Public Adm

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Despite advances in research-informed public policy, research remains underutilized in government. To develop a firmer understanding of governmental capacity to use research in decision making, we investigate Canadian provincial ministries overseeing education, higher education, and science and technology. The findings from semi-structured interviews indicate that capacity to generate and access research is limited. However, we find evidence of a recent change in which provincial agencies sought to bolster capacity with research use strategies and by leveraging relationships with researchers. Leaders' support for well-coordinated research use initiatives also seems critical to instilling a culture of researchinformed decision making in government agencies.Sommaire : Malgr e les progrès r ealis es dans la politique publique fond es sur les etudes, la recherche demeure sous-utilis ee au gouvernement. Pour mieux saisir la capacit e gouvernementale a utiliser la recherche dans la prise de d ecisions, nous avons etudi e les ministères provinciaux canadiens qui contrôlent l' education, l' education sup erieure et les sciences et la technologie. Les r esultats d'entrevues semi-structur ees indiquent que la capacit e a g en erer de la recherche et a y acc eder est limit ee. Nous avons egalement trouv e la preuve d'un r ecent changement selon lequel les organismes provinciaux cherchaient a renforcer la capacit e en ayant recours a des strat egies pour l'utilisation de la recherche et en tirant parti des relations avec les chercheurs. Il semble essentiel que les leaders appuient des initiatives bien coordonn ees d'utilisation de la recherche pour susciter une culture de la prise de d ecisions fond ee sur la recherche dans les organismes gouvernementaux. Creso S a is a Professor in

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Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Canada, a number of studies have explored research use in the health sector (Estabrooks ; Lavis ; Belkhodja et al ; Lemay and Sá ), whereas other government sectors remain poorly investigated. This dearth of research is notable given the growing discourse, particularly at the provincial level, around evidence‐based policy‐making.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research use capacity in provincial governments

Sá¹,

Hamlin²

2015

Can Public Adm

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“…However, there have been increased calls worldwide to strengthen the use of research evidence in the development, evaluation and implementation of policies [5-7]. Research is purported to provide reliable and valid evidence with which to inform decisions and formulate effective solutions in response to problems, and numerous studies have demonstrated associations between evidence-informed policies and improvements in health and spending [8]. Despite this, evidence suggests that, currently, many opportunities to use research to inform policymaking are missed [9-18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The development of ORACLe: a measure of an organisation’s capacity to engage in evidence-informed health policy

Makkar

Turner

Williamson

et al. 2015

Health Res Policy Sys

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BackgroundEvidence-informed policymaking is more likely if organisations have cultures that promote research use and invest in resources that facilitate staff engagement with research. Measures of organisations’ research use culture and capacity are needed to assess current capacity, identify opportunities for improvement, and examine the impact of capacity-building interventions. The aim of the current study was to develop a comprehensive system to measure and score organisations’ capacity to engage with and use research in policymaking, which we entitled ORACLe (Organisational Research Access, Culture, and Leadership).MethodWe used a multifaceted approach to develop ORACLe. Firstly, we reviewed the available literature to identify key domains of organisational tools and systems that may facilitate research use by staff. We interviewed senior health policymakers to verify the relevance and applicability of these domains. This information was used to generate an interview schedule that focused on seven key domains of organisational capacity. The interview was pilot-tested within four Australian policy agencies. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was then undertaken using an expert sample to establish the relative importance of these domains. This data was used to produce a scoring system for ORACLe.ResultsThe ORACLe interview was developed, comprised of 23 questions addressing seven domains of organisational capacity and tools that support research use, including (1) documented processes for policymaking; (2) leadership training; (3) staff training; (4) research resources (e.g. database access); and systems to (5) generate new research, (6) undertake evaluations, and (7) strengthen relationships with researchers. From the DCE data, a conditional logit model was estimated to calculate total scores that took into account the relative importance of the seven domains. The model indicated that our expert sample placed the greatest importance on domains (2), (3) and (4).ConclusionWe utilised qualitative and quantitative methods to develop a system to assess and score organisations’ capacity to engage with and apply research to policy. Our measure assesses a broad range of capacity domains and identifies the relative importance of these capacities. ORACLe data can be used by organisations keen to increase their use of evidence to identify areas for further development.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12961-015-0069-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Several authors point out that interaction with managers and health professionals can be effective insofar as researchers build strategic partnerships to promote access to adequate and quality research results; to recognize that results can inform them at different levels of intervention and offer elements to confirm, improve or transform their practice [23][24][25] . However, managers and health professionals are not "passive" users of the research 9,23 . Lemay & Sá 9 point out that the use of results can be broader and more diverse than "reading scientific papers, using policies and discussing results among co-workers."…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Approaches that explore the practical implications of researchers' work reveal complex interaction dynamics that refer to new organizational and interorganizational research schemes in universities and research institutions, to the sociopolitical environment, as well as new patterns of relationships and non-liner interactive processes influenced by values, expectations and interests of social stakeholders that constitute the context of the applications of knowledge to inform health policies and, consequently, the production of research impacts [7][8][9] . This study uses the integrative approach of the Research and Policy in Development program of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI-RAP-ID) [10][11][12] , which proposes to understand the relationship between research, policy and health practice from the analysis of three aspects: a) The political and institutional contexts that influence the process of decision-making in diverse, broad and dynamic situations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%