ArticleHealth research policy and systems2018
What can we learn from interventions that aim to increase policy-makers' capacity to use research? A realist scoping review.
Article in Health research policy and systems, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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
40 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Identifying behavior change techniques (BCTs) in responsive feeding interventions to prevent childhood obesity-A systematic review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Pooled it
- Strategies for knowledge exchange for action to address place-based determinants of health inequalities: an umbrella review.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Increasing the capacity of policy agencies to use research findings: a stepped-wedge trial.Health research policy and systems · 2019Trial
- Conducting Evaluations in the Context of Tertiary Prevention of Youth Crime: Reflections from the Youth Endowment Fund.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The use of research evidence in blood collection policy and practice: a qualitative study with frontline staff, middle managers and senior managers.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- "You've just got to have it ready for when they're ready" - Australian policymakers' perceptions of living evidence synthesis and its opportunity to support health policy.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Enhancing evidence-based chiropractic practice: bridging the knowledge-to-action gap for the needs of community-based chiropractors.The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association · 2025Article
- A Realist Scoping Review of Community Nutrition Interventions in the UK: Implications for the 'Nutrition Skills for Life' Programme.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025Article
- Rethinking the digital divide in health: a critical interpretive synthesis of research literature.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Review
- From bench to policy: a critical analysis of models for evidence-informed policymaking in healthcare.Frontiers in public health · 2024Review
- The usage of data in NHS primary care commissioning: a realist evaluation.BMC primary care · 2023Article
- The usage of data in NHS primary care commissioning: a realist review.BMC medicine · 2023Review
- A landscape assessment of the activities and capacities of evidence-to-policy intermediaries (EPI) in behavioral health.Implementation science communications · 2023Article
- Application of implementation science framework to develop and adopt regulatory science in different national regulatory authorities.Frontiers in public health · 2023Review
- Challenges in the execution of public health research: Reflections from Public Health Research Initiative (PHRI) grant management in India.Dialogues in health · 2022Article
- Enabling local political committees to support the implementation of evidence-based practice - a feasibility study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2022Article
- How successful was the use of a community of practice for the implementation of evidence-based practices for heart failure within the United States Department of Veterans Affairs: Insights from a formative evaluation.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- Research can be integrated into public health policy-making: global lessons for and from Spanish economic evaluations.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- Examining and Contextualizing Approaches to Establish Policy Support Organizations - A Critical Interpretive Synthesis.International journal of health policy and management · 2022Article
- Tailoring dissemination of evidence to preferences of tobacco control partners: results from an academic-community partnership.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHealth policy-making can benefit from more effective use of research. In many policy settings there is scope to increase capacity for using research individually and organisationally, but little is known about what strategies work best in which circumstances. This review addresses the question: What causal mechanisms can best explain the observed outcomes of interventions that aim to increase policy-makers' capacity to use research in their work?
methodsArticles were identified from three available reviews and two databases (PAIS and WoS; 1999-2016). Using a realist approach, articles were reviewed for information about contexts, outcomes (including process effects) and possible causal mechanisms. Strategy + Context + Mechanism = Outcomes (SCMO) configurations were developed, drawing on theory and findings from other studies to develop tentative hypotheses that might be applicable across a range of intervention sites.
resultsWe found 22 studies that spanned 18 countries. There were two dominant design strategies (needs-based tailoring and multi-component design) and 18 intervention strategies targeting four domains of capacity, namely access to research, skills improvement, systems improvement and interaction. Many potential mechanisms were identified as well as some enduring contextual characteristics that all interventions should consider. The evidence was variable, but the SCMO analysis suggested that tailored interactive workshops supported by goal-focused mentoring, and genuine collaboration, seem particularly promising. Systems supports and platforms for cross-sector collaboration are likely to play crucial roles. Gaps in the literature are discussed.
conclusionThis exploratory review tentatively posits causal mechanisms that might explain how intervention strategies work in different contexts to build capacity for using research in policy-making.
Indexed as
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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.