Woodall J, Homer C, Freeman C, South J, Cooke J, Holliday J, Hartley A, Mullen S, Stafford B
Leeds Beckett University, City Campus, Portland Way, Leeds LS1 3HE, UK.
Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK.
Perspect Public Health. 2024 Jun 10:17579139241256879. doi: 10.1177/17579139241256879.
Local authorities in England are responsible for public health and health promotion. This article sought to explore how research and decision-making co-exist in a local authority in England.
An Embedded Researcher was based within the local authority and used qualitative methodology to address the research aim. Interviews and focus groups were employed to ascertain a range of stakeholder views in the local authority. All transcripts were coded on NVivo 12 by the Embedded Researcher and two members of the research team cross-checked a sample for coding accuracy. Data were analysed using framework analysis.
The data suggest several barriers to using research to inform decision-making in health promotion and public health. The study shows that research is valued in local authorities, but not always privileged - this is due to cultural factors and practical political reasons which often means that decisions need to be made expediently. Participants outlined a juxtaposition between academic credibility; timeliness to complete the research and the financial cost associated with it; against the independence and credibility that independent academics could bring.
Policy formulation and delivery is an integral aspect of health promotion and critical to achieving improved population health and reductions in health inequalities. However, there exists tensions between gathering research evidence and making research-informed decisions. The article concludes by advocating the use of Embedded Researchers to fully understand how research is gathered and used to support public health and health promotion policymaking.
英国地方当局负责公共卫生和健康促进工作。本文旨在探讨研究与决策在英国一个地方当局中是如何共存的。
一名嵌入式研究员入驻该地方当局，并采用定性研究方法来实现研究目标。通过访谈和焦点小组来确定该地方当局一系列利益相关者的观点。所有访谈记录由嵌入式研究员在NVivo 12上进行编码，研究团队的两名成员对一个样本的编码准确性进行交叉核对。数据采用框架分析法进行分析。
数据表明在利用研究为健康促进和公共卫生决策提供信息方面存在若干障碍。研究表明，研究在地方当局受到重视，但并非总是具有优先权——这是由于文化因素和实际政治原因，这通常意味着决策需要迅速做出。参与者概述了学术可信度、完成研究的及时性及其相关财务成本与独立学者所能带来的独立性和可信度之间的并列关系。
政策制定和实施是健康促进的一个不可或缺的方面，对于改善人群健康和减少健康不平等至关重要。然而，在收集研究证据和做出基于研究的决策之间存在紧张关系。本文最后提倡使用嵌入式研究员来全面了解研究是如何收集和用于支持公共卫生和健康促进政策制定的。
