ArticleHealth research policy and systems2020
Evaluating research investment and impact at a regional Australian Hospital and Health Service: a programme theory and conceptual framework.
Article in Health research policy and systems, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- If health organisations and staff engage in research, does healthcare improve? Strengthening the evidence base through systematic reviews.Health research policy and systems · 2024Pooled it
- A scoping review of research capability building: impact on health workforce attraction and retention in rural and remote Australia.Human resources for health · 2026Article
- Building Rural Health Research Capacity Through Embedded Researchers and Ecosystem Development.The Australian journal of rural health · 2026Article
- Measuring growth in research capacity and capability of allied health professionals at a regional Australian public health service: 2011-2023.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Measuring impacts: a scoping review of healthcare impact evaluations.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- The RISES Model: A New Approach to Promoting Health Professionals' Motivation to Engage in Research.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Article
- Exploring the motivation of health professionals to engage with research at various career stages.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- If Providing Best Care Means Being at the Cutting Edge of Research, Should It Be Implemented System-wide? Comment on "'We're Not Providing the Best Care If We Are Not on the Cutting Edge of Research': A Research Impact Evaluation at a Regional Australian Hospital and Health Service".International journal of health policy and management · 2023Article
- "We're Not Providing the Best Care If We Are Not on the Cutting Edge of Research": A Research Impact Evaluation at a Regional Australian Hospital and Health Service.International journal of health policy and management · 2022Article
- Research training incorporating education and mentoring for rural and regional allied health professionals: An evaluation study.The Australian journal of rural health · 2022Article
- What shapes research and research capacity building in rural health services? Context matters.The Australian journal of rural health · 2022Article
- Evaluation of Research Capacity and Culture of Health Professionals Working with Women, Children and Families at an Australian Public Hospital: A Cross Sectional Observational Study.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 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
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHealth systems in Australia and worldwide are increasingly expected to conduct research and quality improvement activities in addition to delivering clinical care and training health professionals. This study aims to inform a research impact evaluation at a regional Australian Hospital and Health Service by developing a programme theory showing how research investment is expected to have impact.
methodsThis qualitative study, representing the first phase of a larger mixed methods research impact evaluation at the Townsville Hospital and Health Service (THHS), adopts a realist-informed design involving the development of a programme theory. Data were obtained between February and May 2019 from strategic documentation and interviews with six current and former health service executives and senior employees. Inductive themes were integrated into a conceptual framework to visually represent the programme theory.
resultsResearch at THHS has developed organically as the service has matured into a regional tertiary referral service serving a diverse rural and remote population across northern Queensland. Throughout this journey, individual THHS leaders often adopted a research development mantle despite disincentives arising from a performance-driven reporting and activity-based funding service context. Impact expectations from research investment at THHS were identified in the categories of enhanced research activity and capacity among clinicians, and improved clinical practice, health workforce capability and stability, and patient and population health. Seven contextual factors were identified as potential enablers or obstacles to these impact expectations and ambitions.
conclusionsBy identifying both relevant impact types and key contextual factors, this study offers programme theory to inform a planned research impact evaluation at THHS. The conceptual framework may be useful in other regionally based health service settings. More broadly, there are opportunities for future research to test and refine hybrid versions of linear and realist research impact evaluation models that combine resource-intensive, theory-driven approaches with policy practicality.
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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.