Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40734515›Full record

ArticleHealth policy and planning2025

Context and generalizability in health policy and systems research: a plea for an integrative praxis of theorizing.

Sara Van Belle, Bruno Marchal

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Health policy and planning, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Sara Van BelleDepartment of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, Antwerp B-2000, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0003-2074-0359
Bruno MarchalComplexity and Health Unit, Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, Antwerp B-2000, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-7185-022X

Funding

FWO (Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders, Belgium) FWO 1221821 N
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In this article, we address the conundrum of context in health policy and systems research, zooming in on research on implementation of programmes, policies, and interventions. We review how the field draws on non-linear paradigms to better take into account 'context' in causal explanation, and we compare paradigms and the way in which they can inform more context-sensitive research, policies, and programmes. We propose a theorizing praxis that is based on the principles of realist inquiry and that allows researchers to draw lessons applicable to other settings by integrating a comprehensive analysis of context in their research.

Indexed as

Health PolicyHealth Services ResearchHumanscontextimplementation sciencerealist evaluationrealist researchtheorizingtheory-building

Identifiers

PMID40734515
PMCPMC12516028

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.