Beyond ‘evidence-based policy’ in a ‘post-truth’ world: the role of ideas in public health policy

Social Policy Review 29 ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447336211.003.0008 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Katherine E. Smith

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Public Health Policy ◽

Policy Making ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Public Health Policies ◽

Evidence Based Policy ◽

Cultural Gaps

This chapter discusses the role of ideas in policy making. The existence of conflicts between evidence-based and ideological approaches to politically contentious issues is widely recognised. However, for policy issues — such as public health — in which there seems to be rather more of a consensus about the overarching objectives, it seems less obvious how or why ‘politics’ might obstruct the use of evidence within policy making. Indeed, the majority of civil servants and politicians in a post-1997 UK context have signed up to taking an evidence-based approach to improving population health and reducing health inequalities. The existence of such a cross-sector consensus suggests that public heath might be one area in which evidence-based policy and practice are feasible. Yet, disappointingly, most assessments of public health policies continue to conclude that they are not evidence-based. A popular explanation for this disjuncture is that it results from communicative, institutional, and cultural gaps between researchers and policy makers.

Download Full-text

Lessons to be learnt? The role of evaluations of active labour market programmes in evidence-based policy making

Public Administration and Development ◽

10.1002/pad.405 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 329-337 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Deborah Johnston

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

Policy Making ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Evidence Based Policy ◽

Active Labour ◽

Active Labour Market Programmes

Download Full-text

A Modelling Framework for Evidence-based Public Health Policy Making

IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics ◽

10.1109/jbhi.2022.3142503 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 1-1

Author(s):

Marios Prasinos ◽

Ioannis Basdekis ◽

Marco Anisetti ◽

George Spanoudakis ◽

Dimitris D.G Koutsouris ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Policy ◽

Public Health Policy ◽

Policy Making ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Modelling Framework

Download Full-text

Formulating evidence-based public health policies: A guide to policy makers

International Journal of Preventive Medicine ◽

10.4103/2008-7802.151435 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 4

Author(s):

SaurabhR Shrivastava ◽

PrateekS Shrivastava ◽

Jegadeesh Ramasamy

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Policies ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Public Health Policies

Download Full-text

Evidence Based Public Health Policy Making: Tool Support

2019 IEEE World Congress on Services (SERVICES) ◽

10.1109/services.2019.00080 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ioannis Basdekis ◽

Konstantin Pozdniakov ◽

Marios Prasinos ◽

Konstantina Koloutsou

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Policy ◽

Public Health Policy ◽

Policy Making ◽

Tool Support ◽

Evidence Based

Download Full-text

NATIONAL GUIDELINES FOR HIGH-COST DRUGS IN BRAZIL: ACHIEVEMENTS AND CONSTRAINTS OF AN INNOVATIVE NATIONAL EVIDENCE-BASED PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY

International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care ◽

10.1017/s0266462313000056 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 198-206 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Paulo D. Picon ◽

Alberto Beltrame ◽

David Banta

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Policy ◽

Healthcare System ◽

Public Health Policy ◽

Policy Making ◽

Social Inequalities ◽

Critical Issue ◽

Public Healthcare ◽

Evidence Based ◽

National Guidelines

Introduction: The translation of best evidence into practice has become an important purpose of policy making in health care. In Brazil, a country of continental dimensions with widespread regional and social inequalities, the dissemination and use of the best-evidence in policy making is a critical issue for the healthcare system.Objectives: The main purpose of this study is to describe an evidence-based public health policy with special emphasis on guidelines creation for high-cost medicines. We also describe how that strategy was diffused to the judiciary system and to other parts of the healthcare system.Results: We present an 11-year follow-up of a national project for creating and updating guidelines for high-cost medicines in Brazil. A total of 109 national guidelines were published (new or updated versions) for 66 selected diseases, the first such effort in Brazilian history. The project influenced the Brazilian legislature, which has recently established a Federal Law requiring national guidelines for any new technology listed for payment by the Brazilian public healthcare system.Conclusion: We were able to involve many different stakeholders in a partnership between academia and policy makers, which made possible the widespread dissemination of the clinical practice guidelines. Problems and constraints were also encountered. This evolving public health strategy might be useful for other developing countries.

Download Full-text

Engineering advice in policy making: a new domain of inquiry in evidence and policy

Evidence & Policy A Journal of Research Debate and Practice ◽

10.1332/174426420x15852883943798 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Adam C.G. Cooper ◽

Lorenzo Marvulli ◽

Katie Black ◽

John Holmes ◽

Harshal Mehta

Keyword(s):

Policy Making ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Science Literature ◽

The Public ◽

Policy Practice ◽

Evidence Based Policy ◽

Engineering Team ◽

Related Science ◽

Engineering Practices

Most, if not all empirical research on evidence-based policy has three features: firstly, it typically focuses on the application of science and scientific expertise on policy; secondly, it is executed by ‘outsider’ researchers who are not part of the public administration or policy-making process but observers of it (for example, Stevens, 2010); and thirdly, the major topical focus is in social policy areas such as health, education and crime (Oliver et al, 2014). This study advances the perspectives on evidence-based policy making by exploring the role of engineering expertise in policy making. We first make the case that, although related, science and engineering represent different epistemic communities in relation to policy practice. This difference, we argue, can give rise to particular styles of interaction that can make the governance of engineering expertise in policy making different to that for science or scientists. We then report on the findings of a study of the relationship between a new engineering team in a UK ministry with a technical portfolio and the policy colleagues they worked with across a range of programme areas. Through 18 interviews with policy officials, we identify a range of interactions that imply a need to consider styles of management and approaches to internal deployment of experts within policy organisations, as well as the implications for policy making and engineering expertise, given the way policy and engineering practices overlap. Key messages <ul><li>Engineering advice has never been properly identified and studied in the academic social science literature to date.</li> <li>Engineering advice is an important and potent source of evidence in policy making in topical areas like energy policy.</li> <li>In contrast to science advice, engineering advice as a practice significantly overlaps with policy practice meaning important conflict or complementarity is possible, dependent on how the advice is deployed.</li></ul>

Download Full-text

The EU Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Knowledge Gateway

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckz185.602 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽

Author(s):

I Bakogianni

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Health Promotion ◽

Disease Prevention ◽

Policy Making ◽

Health Policies ◽

High Quality ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Public Health Policies ◽

The Eu

Abstract Issue/ problem Unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, alcohol and tobacco use are leading risk factors for non-communicable diseases. They are all modifiable and health promotion policies can support that. Description of the problem However, information overload, controversies and uncertainties, budget constraints and difficulties in balancing disparate interests are common challenges that can hamper action by policy makers in the field of public health. To support them, the European Commission has created the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Knowledge Gateway. It is a reference point for independent and reliable information to assist policy making; it summarises both the data and knowledge needed to support prioritisation of public health policies and justify investments in health promotion. Results The Knowledge Gateway currently covers the areas of nutrition, physical activity, alcohol, marketing of foods and beverages, and related societal impacts such as disease burden and health inequalities. These topics have been prioritised by Member States representatives and policy makers. The content is organised into concise, well-structured briefs which include definition of each issue, health related effects, and examples of policy recommendations and implemented policies. The high-quality source documents are selected in a tiered approach and are mainly authored or endorsed by authoritative public health organisations. Lessons Judging by the positive feedback received, the Knowledge Gateway is being used widely across Member States and stakeholders. The content of the Knowledge Gateway will be further expanded to support other health priorities such as mental health promotion. Policy makers have a unique, trusted “one-stop-shop” with high quality information to support, justify and strengthen the development of public health policies and health promotion. Key messages The use of reliable authoritative information for the development of public health policies can support the prevention of major non-communicable disease risk factors. The EU Knowledge Gateway is a unique reference point of reliable, independent information to support policy making in the area of public health.

Download Full-text

Why policy needs history (and historians)

Health Economics Policy and Law ◽

10.1017/s1744133117000433 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (3-4) ◽

pp. 369-381 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Virginia Berridge

Keyword(s):

Case Studies ◽

Policy Making ◽

Time History ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Direct Relevance ◽

The Past ◽

Evidence Based Policy ◽

Fresh Starts ◽

The Relationship

AbstractPolicy makers like the idea of new initiatives and fresh starts, unencumbered by, even actively overthrowing, what has been done in the past. At the same time, history can be pigeonholed as fusty and antiquarian, dealing with long past events of no relevance to the present. Academic historians are sometimes bound up in their own worlds. The debates central to academe may have little direct relevance to the immediate concerns of policy making. The paper argues that history, as the evidence-based discipline par excellence, is as relevant as other approaches to evidence-based policy making. Case studies can show us the nature of that relevance. How to achieve influence for history also needs discussion. The relationship is not straightforward and will vary according to time and place. History is an interpretative discipline, not just a collection of ‘facts’. The paper discusses how historians work and why it is important for policy makers to engage, not just with history, but with historians as well. Historians too need to think about the value of bringing their analysis into policy.

Download Full-text