ArticleHealth research policy and systems2019
Health promoter, advocate, legitimiser - the many roles of WHO guidelines: a qualitative study.
Article in Health research policy and systems, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Using the WHO-INTEGRATE evidence-to-decision framework to develop recommendations for induction of labour.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- Variations in processes for guideline adaptation: a qualitative study of World Health Organization staff experiences in implementing guidelines.BMC public health · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundProperly implemented evidence-based clinical and public health guidelines can improve patient outcomes. WHO has been a major contributor to guideline development, publishing more than 250 guidelines on various topics since 2008. However, well-developed guidelines can only be effective if they are adequately and appropriately implemented. Herein, we aimed to explore whether and how WHO guidelines are implemented in local contexts to inform the success of future guideline implementation.
methodsSeventeen interviews were carried out between March 2018 and December 2018 with WHO guideline developers, headquarter staff, and regional and country office staff. Participants were purposely sampled from a variety of WHO guidelines and snowball sampling was used to identify regional and country office staff. The deidentified transcripts were analysed through three phases of coding, using grounded theory as the analytic approach.
resultsWHO guidelines played a variety of roles in the work of WHO at all levels. WHO officers and local government officials used WHO guidelines to influence health policy. We categorised the uses of guidelines as (1) directly changing policy, (2) justifying policy change, (3) engaging stakeholders, (4) being guarantors of legitimacy, (5) being advocacy tools, and (6) intertwining with WHO's various roles. Participants refuted the perception of the guidelines as mere lists of technical recommendations that needed to be implemented in different contexts. We found that the existence, quality and credibility, rather than the content of the guidelines, are the keys to health policy change initiatives in different local contexts.
conclusionsUsed as a guarantor of legitimacy by policy-makers, WHO guidelines can be better positioned to influence health policy and practice change. Understanding the various roles of guidelines can help WHO developers package guidelines to optimise their effective implementation. ETHICS: This project was conducted with ethics approval from The University of Sydney (Project number: 2017/723) and WHO (Protocol ID: 00001).
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