ArticleHealth policy OPEN2021
The role of document analysis in health policy analysis studies in low and middle-income countries: Lessons for HPA researchers from a qualitative systematic review.
Article in Health policy OPEN, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Content Validation of a Medication Adherence Risk Score (MARS) for Mortality Risk Prediction: A Delphi Consensus.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of medication adherence and mortality in chronic disease: Implications for clinical guidelines and policy.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Regulating the drafting fiction: A qualitative content analysis of official guidance and regulator documents on AI scribe adoption and use in healthcare.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Addressing social determinants of health and equity in early childhood: a qualitative document analysis of national policies in Ecuador.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Connection, confluence and convergence: a protocol for reviewing policies on antimicrobial resistance and plastic pollution.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Privatized employment services in Australia: addressing social, health, and equity impacts for health promotion.Health promotion international · 2026Article
- Most-Favored-Nation Benchmarking Versus Value-Based Contracting: Institutional Fit of Pharmaceutical Pricing Tools in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.Health services insights · 2026Article
- Analysis of Anatomical pathology laboratory capabilities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Iran's progress in reducing maternal mortality: an analysis of policies and interventions using the who's six building blocks and universal health coverage approach.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- A policy analysis of active travel in public healthcare organizations, Victoria Australia.Health promotion international · 2025Article
- Analyzing countries' needs to improve multisectoral collaboration against health threats at the human-animal-environment interface: a study of 51 National Bridging Workshop Roadmaps.BMC global and public health · 2025Article
- The positioning of policy documents in the field of health policy and systems research.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Frontline nurses' adherence to COVID-19 policies in care delivery at a Johannesburg Academic Hospital.Curationis · 2025Article
- To what extent are maternal and child health, family planning, and nutrition policies supporting integrated service delivery in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Niger?Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
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- Stakeholder engagement and pharmaceutical pricing regulation: a qualitative inquiry.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2025Article
- A sustainability trilogy approach for drought risk prevention: Case study in Indonesia.Jamba (Potchefstroom, South Africa) · 2025Article
- Article
- The push and pull factors: Adverse childhood experiences and their association with homelessness.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2025Review
- Regulatory landscape for pediatric hematology-oncology nursing in Brazil: document analysis of policies and regulations.Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Document analysis is commonly used in health policy analysis (HPA) studies, but the purpose and rigour of application is unclear. This review explored the application and utility of document analysis in HPA studies conducted in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs), intending to derive lessons for strengthening this methodology. Methods: Employing a qualitative systematic review approach, nine electronic databases were searched for LMIC HPA articles that employed document analysis. Articles were subjected to systematic retrieval, storage and quality-assessment. Thematic analysis was used in coding, extraction and analysis of data. Results: Only 28 studies had sufficiently detailed document analyses and met the inclusion criteria. Document analyses were mainly complimentary to primary data collection forms. The majority, barring four studies, lacked clear purpose and utility in answering the research questions, and rigour in methodology and the reporting thereof. The approach to document analyses bore no relationship to the policy phase investigated. Challenges in accessing documents contributed to methodological difficulties. Conclusion: Well-executed document analysis has potential to strengthen HPA studies. Health Policy researcher skill in applying this methodology needs strengthening and could be improved by: purposive alignment of the method to research questions; rigorously applying and reporting on search strategy with rigour; source, organize and store documents systematically; apply robust data coding and analysis; and clearly linking document contribution to study findings and conclusions.
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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.