ArticleInternational journal of health policy and management2021
Towards an Explanation of the Social Value of Health Systems: An Interpretive Synthesis.
Article in International journal of health policy and management, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- How does the Nigerian health system serve people living with disabilities? A socio-ecological analysis on people living with visual impairment.Global health action · 2025Review
- Characterizing intersystem and community values to enhance opioid use disorder treatments: Communities That Heal intervention in New York.The International journal on drug policy · 2025Article
- What should be publicly funded in the Colombian health system? A mixed methods study of citizens' perceptions.BMJ open · 2025Article
- A sweet deal for domestic industry: the political economy and framing of Vanuatu's sugar-sweetened beverage tax.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- How Zambia reduced inequalities in under-five mortality rates over the last two decades: a mixed-methods study.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- The Tale of Nine Belgian Health Ministers and a Multi-level Fragmented Governance System: Six Guiding Principles to Improve Integrated Care, Responsiveness, Resilience and Equity; A Response to the Recent Commentaries.International journal of health policy and management · 2023Article
- Introduction to the Special Issue on "Analysing the Politics of Health Policy Change in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The HPA Fellowship Programme 2017-2019".International journal of health policy and management · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundHealth systems are complex social systems, and values constitute a central dimension of their complexity. Values are commonly understood as key drivers of health system change, operating across all health systems components and functions. Moreover, health systems are understood to influence and generate social values, presenting an opportunity to harness health systems to build stronger, more cohesive societies. However, there is little investigation (theoretical, conceptual, or empirical) on social values in health policy and systems research (HPSR), particularly regarding the capacity of health systems to influence and generate social values. This study develops an explanatory theory for the 'social value of health systems.'
methodsWe present the results of an interpretive synthesis of HPSR literature on social values, drawing on a qualitative systematic review, focusing on claims about the relationship between 'health systems' and 'social values.' We combined relational claims extracted from the literature under a common framework in order to generate new explanatory theory.
resultsWe identify four mechanisms by which health systems are considered to contribute social value to society: Health systems can: (1) offer a unifying national ideal and build social cohesion, (2) influence and legitimise popular attitudes about rights and entitlements with regard to healthcare and inform citizen's understanding of state responsibilities, (3) strengthen trust in the state and legitimise state authority, and (4) communicate the extent to which the state values various population groups.
conclusionWe conclude that, using a systems-thinking and complex adaptive systems perspective, the above mechanisms can be explained as emergent properties of the dynamic network of values-based connections operating within health systems. We also demonstrate that this theory accounts for how HPSR authors write about the relationship between health systems and social values. Finally, we offer lessons for researchers and policy-makers seeking to bring about values-based change in health systems.
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