ArticleBMC health services research2017
The challenge of complexity in evaluating health policies and programs: the case of women's participatory groups to improve antenatal outcomes.
Article in BMC health services research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Trial
- How to do (or not to do) realist evaluations to advance theory, practice, and justice in health systems research.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Context and generalizability in health policy and systems research: a plea for an integrative praxis of theorizing.Health policy and planning · 2025Article
- Realist approach to community-based participatory research on a community health break-down in Japan: mechanism reasoning, knowledge and a trust partnership.BMC primary care · 2023Article
- Article
- A Realist-Informed Review of Digital Empowerment Strategies for Adolescents to Improve Their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Well-being.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2022Review
- Article
- Behaviour change practices in exercise referral schemes: developing realist programme theory of implementation.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Communities and service providers address access to perinatal care in postconflict Northern Uganda: socialising evidence for participatory action.Family medicine and community health · 2021Article
- Adjust your own oxygen mask before helping those around you: an autoethnography of participatory research.Implementation science : IS · 2020Article
- Systematic review of study designs and methods in health transition research for young people with intellectual disabilities.Heliyon · 2019Article
- Adult and young women communication on sexuality: a pilot intervention in Maputo-Mozambique.Reproductive health · 2019Article
- Using research priority-setting to guide bridging the implementation gap in countries - a case study of the Uganda newborn research priorities in the SDG era.Health research policy and systems · 2019Article
- Evaluating the Healthy Futures Nearby Program: Protocol for Unraveling Mechanisms in Health-Related Behavior Change and Improving Perceived Health Among Socially Vulnerable Families in the Netherlands.JMIR research protocols · 2019Article
- "Patients Are Not Following the [Adherence] Club Rules Anymore": A Realist Case Study of the Antiretroviral Treatment Adherence Club, South Africa.Qualitative health research · 2018Article
- A realist approach to eliciting the initial programme theory of the antiretroviral treatment adherence club intervention in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.BMC medical research methodology · 2018Article
- Alma Ata after 40 years: Primary Health Care and Health for All-from consensus to complexity.BMJ global health · 2018Article
- Formulating Initial Programme Theories of the Healthy Homes and Neighbourhoods Integrated Care Initiative.International journal of integrated careArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDuring the last years, randomized designs have been promoted as the cornerstone of evidence-based policymaking. Also in the field of community participation, Random Control Trials (RCTs) have been the dominant design, used for instance to examine the contribution of community participation to health improvement. We aim at clarifying why RCTs and related (quasi-) experimental designs may not be the most appropriate approach to evaluate such complex programmes.
resultsWe argue that the current methodological debate could be more fruitful if it would start from the position that the choice of designs should fit the nature of the program and research questions rather than be driven by methodological preferences. We present how realist evaluation, a theory-driven approach to research and evaluation, is a relevant methodology that could be used to assess whether and how community participation works. Using the realist evaluation approach to examine the relationship between participation and action of women groups and antenatal outcomes would enable evaluators to examine in detail the underlying mechanisms which influence actual practices and outcomes, as well as the context conditions required to make it work.
conclusionsRealist research in fact allows opening the black boxes of "community" and "participation" in order to examine the role they play in ensuring cost-effective, sustainable interventions. This approach yields important information for policy makers and programme managers considering how such programs could be implemented in their own setting.
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