Health Research: The Systems Approach

1977 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. 902
Author(s):  
Marjorie V. Batey ◽  
Harriet H. Werley ◽  
Ann Zuzich ◽  
Myron Zajkowski ◽  
A. Dawn Zagornik
Keyword(s):  
Health Research ◽  
Systems Approach

scholarly journals A Transdisciplinary Complex Adaptive Systems (T-CAS) Approach to Developing a National School-Based Culture of Prevention for Health Improvement: the School Health Research Network (SHRN) in Wales

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Murphy ◽  
Hannah Littlecott ◽  
Gillian Hewitt ◽  
Sarah MacDonald ◽  
Joan Roberts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
School Health ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Health Improvement ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Culture Of Prevention

AbstractThe paper reflects on a transdisciplinary complex adaptive systems (T-CAS) approach to the development of a school health research network (SHRN) in Wales for a national culture of prevention for health improvement in schools. A T-CAS approach focuses on key stages and activities within a continuous network cycle to facilitate systems level change. The theory highlights the importance of establishing transdisciplinary strategic partnerships to identify and develop opportunities for system reorientation. Investment in and the linking of resources develops the capacity for key social agents to take advantage of disruption points in the re-orientated system, and engagement activities develop the network to facilitate new social interactions and opportunities for transdisciplinary activities. A focus on transdisciplinary action research to co-produce interventions, generate research evidence and inform policy and practice is shown to play an important part in developing new normative processes that act to self-regulate the emerging system. Finally, the provision of reciprocal network benefits provides critical feedback loops that stabilise the emerging adaptive system and promote the network cycle. SHRN is shown to have embedded itself in the system by securing sustainability funding from health and education, a key role in national and regional planning and recruiting every eligible school to the network. It has begun to reorient the system to one of evidence generation (56 research studies co-produced) and opportunities for data-led practice at multiple levels. Further capacity development will be required to capitalise on these. The advantages of a complex systems approach to address barriers to change and the transferability of a T-CAS network approach across settings and cultures are highlighted.

Designing Population Health Research Grounded in Complex Systems Science

2020 ◽  
pp. 93-106
Author(s):  
Leah Frerichs ◽  
Natalie R. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Dynamic Complexity ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Computational Modeling And Simulation ◽  
Systems Mapping

There have been increasing calls to use complex systems research approaches to address pressing population health problems. To respond to this call, the authors argue that researchers must shift their thinking in how they design population health research studies. Although designing research from a complex systems approach follows the same basic steps as traditional studies that are anchored in statistical, deductive research, new elements of dynamic complexity must be taken into account. This chapter provides an overview of designing research grounded in complex systems. It details the research design steps following a complex systems approach, emphasizing the initial stages of defining and narrowing the research focus. Complex systems issues compel researchers to define objectives and ask questions about how factors such as interconnections, delays between cause and effect, and nonlinear relationships influence outcomes of interest. The initial questions subsequently shape the research design and approach, where systems mapping and computational modeling and simulation methods are often highly relevant. The chapter concludes with a discussion about the complementary and synergistic nature of complex systems and traditional research approaches.

scholarly journals Reconciling fragmented sectors of health research regulation: toward an ecosystem of processual regulation

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhiannon L. Frowde ◽  
Edward S. Dove ◽  
Graeme T. Laurie
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Fitness For Purpose ◽  
Research Regulation ◽  
Proper Functioning ◽  
Regulatory Systems ◽  
Normative Basis ◽  
Whole Systems

AbstractThe delivery of good outcomes from human health research is entirely dependent on the proper functioning of the attendant regulatory systems. This article focuses on the processes of regulation themselves, and how these might be better understood, so that regulators and other stakeholders have a strong normative basis upon which to pursue the regulatory objective of achieving outcomes with maximum social value. The argument is made that the concept of ‘processual regulation’—which promotes a whole systems approach to regulation—can assist greatly in the design, implementation, and review of human health research. This moves beyond the current often-fragmented approach to regulation towards a joined-up, reflective, and responsive system that has fitness-for-purpose at its core.

scholarly journals The Forest for the Trees: A Systems Approach to Human Health Research

2007 ◽  
Vol 115 (9) ◽  
pp. 1261-1263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia M. Gohlke ◽  
Christopher J. Portier
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Systems Approach

A Dynamic Systems Approach to Personality

2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence A. Pervin
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Dynamic View ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of

David Magnusson has been the most articulate spokesperson for a holistic, systems approach to personality. This paper considers three concepts relevant to a dynamic systems approach to personality: dynamics, systems, and levels. Some of the history of a dynamic view is traced, leading to an emphasis on the need for stressing the interplay among goals. Concepts such as multidetermination, equipotentiality, and equifinality are shown to be important aspects of a systems approach. Finally, attention is drawn to the question of levels of description, analysis, and explanation in a theory of personality. The importance of the issue is emphasized in relation to recent advances in our understanding of biological processes. Integrating such advances into a theory of personality while avoiding the danger of reductionism is a challenge for the future.

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