ArticlePreventing chronic disease2015
Getting research to the policy table: a qualitative study with public health researchers on engaging with policy makers.
Article in Preventing chronic disease, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 22 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed.
- An international cross-sectional study of dementia researchers' own perspectives on patient and public involvement.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Role of low-impact-factor journals in conservation implementation.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2025Article
- Bridging Public Health Research and State-Level Policy: The Texas Research-to-Policy Collaboration Project.Preventing chronic disease · 2024Article
- Perspectives of old-age and dementia researchers on communication with policymakers and public research funding decision-makers: an international cross-sectional survey.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- When experts disagree: interviews with public health experts on health outcomes in the UK 2010-2020.Public health · 2023Article
- "You Can't Look at an Orange and Draw a Banana": Using Research Evidence to Develop Relevant Health Policy in Ghana.Global health, science and practice · 2022Article
- Challenges of using modelling evidence in the visceral leishmaniasis elimination programme in India.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- Improving Vitamin D Intake in Young Children-Can an Infographic Help Parents and Carers Understand the Recommendations?Nutrients · 2021Article
- Future-Proofing Geriatric Mental Health Care Services in India: Training and Policy Directions.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2021Article
- Health research knowledge translation into policy in Zambia: policy-maker and researcher perspectives.Health research policy and systems · 2021Article
- "My good friends on the other side of the aisle aren't bothered by those facts": U.S. State legislators' use of evidence in making policy on abortion.Contraception · 2020Article
- Process Evaluation and Lessons Learned From Engaging Local Policymakers in the B'More Healthy Communities for Kids Trial.Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education · 2019Article
- Integrated knowledge translation in population health intervention research: a case study of implementation and outcomes from a school-based project.Health research policy and systems · 2018Article
- Factors affecting engagement between academic faculty and decision-makers: learnings and priorities for a school of public health.Health research policy and systems · 2018Article
- The evaluation of scholarship in academic promotion and tenure processes: Past, present, and future.F1000Research · 2018Review
- Researcher and policymaker dialogue: the Policy BUDDIES Project in Western Cape Province, South Africa.BMJ global health · 2018Article
- Imagining the "open" university: Sharing scholarship to improve research and education.PLoS biology · 2017Article
- Comparison of Research Framing Preferences and Information Use of State Legislators and Advocates Involved in Cancer Control, United States, 2012-2013.Preventing chronic disease · 2017Article
- State legislators' sources and use of information: bridging the gap between research and policy.Health education research · 2015Article
- Networking to Improve Nutrition Policy Research.Preventing chronic disease · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionLittle attention has been given to how researchers can best provide evidence to policy makers so that it informs policy making. The objectives of this study were to increase understanding about the current state of public health nutrition and obesity researcher practices, beliefs, barriers, and facilitators to communicating and engaging with policy makers, and to identify best practices and suggest improvements.
methodsEighteen semistructured interviews were conducted from 2011 to 2013 with public health nutrition and obesity researchers who were highly involved in communicating research to policy makers. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed to identify common themes.
resultsStudy participants described wide variation in practices for communicating and engaging with policy makers and had mixed beliefs about whether and when researchers should engage. Besides a lack of formal policy communication training, barriers noted were promotion and tenure processes and a professional culture that does not value communicating and engaging with policy makers. Study participants cited facilitators to engaging with policy makers as ranging from the individual level (eg, desire to make a difference, relationships with collaborators) to the institutional level (eg, training/mentorship support, institutional recognition). Other facilitators identified were research- and funding-driven. Promising strategies suggested to improve policy engagement were more formal training, better use of intermediaries, and learning how to cultivate relationships with policy makers.
conclusionStudy findings provide insights into the challenges that will need to be overcome and the strategies that might be tried to improve communication and engagement between public health researchers and policy makers.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.