ReviewInternational journal of health policy and management2017
Exploring the Functioning of Decision Space: A Review of the Available Health Systems Literature.
Review in International journal of health policy and management, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of decentralization on the functionality of health facility governing committees in lower and middle-income countries: a systematic literature review.Global health action · 2022Pooled it
- Data-driven decision-making for district health management: a cluster-randomised study in 24 districts of Ethiopia.BMJ global health · 2024Trial
- Having and eating the cake? The centralisation paradox in decentralised healthcare governance: a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Frontline decision autonomy under decentralization: Evidence from health sector reform.PloS one · 2026Article
- Implementation of the national community health policy in Guinea: a decision space analysis of the roles and responsibilities of community health workers.Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2025Article
- Exploring district implementation of national guidelines and maintenance of essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Five lessons from a mid-level health manager intervention to increase uptake of tuberculosis prevention therapy in Uganda: 'it is a completely different thing to implement what you know.'Global health action · 2024Article
- Decentralisation of the Health System Derailed by Organisational Inertia in Machinga, Malawi.International journal of health policy and management · 2024Article
- Article
- Expanding Community Health Worker decision space: learning from a Participatory Action Research training intervention in a rural South African district.Human resources for health · 2023Article
- Health reforms and policy capacity: the Canadian experience.Policy & society · 2023Article
- Examining decentralization and managerial decision making for child immunization program performance in India.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2023Article
- Learning health systems in low-income and middle-income countries: exploring evidence and expert insights.BMJ global health · 2022Review
- Theorizing community health governance for strengthening primary healthcare in LMICs.Health policy and planning · 2022Article
- Powers, engagements and resultant influences over the design and implementation of medicine pricing policies in Ghana.BMJ global health · 2022Article
- The functionality of health facility governing committees and their associated factors in selected primary health facilities implementing direct health facility financing in Tanzania: A mixed-method study.Health science reports · 2022Article
- Hospital physicians' experiences and reflections on their work and role in relation to older patients' pathways - a qualitative study in two Norwegian hospitals.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Management of human resources for health in health districts in Uganda: A decision space analysis.The International journal of health planning and management · 2022Article
- Article
- Does decentralization of health systems translate into decentralization of authority? A decision space analysis of Ugandan healthcare facilities.Health policy and planning · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe concept of decision space holds appeal as an approach to disaggregating the elements that may influence decision-making in decentralized systems. This narrative review aims to explore the functioning of decision space and the factors that influence decision space.
methodsA narrative review of the literature was conducted with searches of online databases and academic journals including PubMed Central, Emerald, Wiley, Science Direct, JSTOR, and Sage. The articles were included in the review based on the criteria that they provided insight into the functioning of decision space either through the explicit application of or reference to decision space, or implicitly through discussion of decision-making related to organizational capacity or accountability mechanisms.
resultsThe articles included in the review encompass literature related to decentralisation, management and decision space. The majority of the studies utilise qualitative methodologies to assess accountability mechanisms, organisational capacities such as finance, human resources and management, and the extent of decision space. Of the 138 articles retrieved, 76 articles were included in the final review.
conclusionThe literature supports Bossert's conceptualization of decision space as being related to organizational capacities and accountability mechanisms. These functions influence the decision space available within decentralized systems. The exact relationship between decision space and financial and human resource capacities needs to be explored in greater detail to determine the potential influence on system functioning.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.