Abstract
The relatively rapid ascendancy of nutrition and health on policy agendas, along with greater emphasis on accountability and results, has stimulated interest in new forms of research to guide the development and implementation of effective policies, programs, and interventions-what we refer to as action-oriented research. To date, action-oriented research in the nutrition field is thought to be the exception rather than the rule, but empirical evidence to support this claim is lacking. We conducted a survey of selected journals in nutrition and public health to assess the extent and nature of population nutrition research published in 2012 that embodied 5 defined characteristics of action-oriented research in relation to: (1) topic(s) of study, (2) processes/influences, (3) actors, (4) methods, and (5) approaches. We identified 762 articles from the 6 selected nutrition journals and 77 nutrition-related articles from the 4 selected public health journals that met our search criteria. Only 7% of the 762 papers in nutrition journals had at least 1 of the 5 action-oriented research characteristics, compared with 36% of the 77 nutrition-related papers in the public health journals. Of all 80 articles that had at least 1 action-oriented research characteristic, only 5 articles (6.25%) embodied all 5 characteristics. Articles with action-oriented research covered a broad range of topics and processes/influences, including policy, workforce development, and schools, as well as actors, such as program staff, store owners, parents, and school staff. In addition, various research methods were used, such as stakeholder analysis, ethnographic narrative, iterative action research, and decision tree modeling, as well as different approaches, including participant-observer and community-based participatory research. Action-oriented research represents a small fraction of articles published in nutrition journals, especially compared with public health journals. This reinforces recent calls to expand population nutrition research agendas to more effectively inform and guide the initiation, development, implementation, and governance of policies, programs, and interventions to address the varied forms of nutrition-related problems. With heightened attention to the magnitude and importance of nutrition problems worldwide, there are substantial reasons and opportunities to incentivize and support such expansion.
Highlights
Global Health: Science and Practice 2015 | Volume 3 | Number 2 economic productivity, and national economic growth.[2,3,4,5,6] For these reasons, and as a fundamental aspect of human rights and equity, nutrition has risen on the agendas of international organizations, governments in developed and developing countries, the private sector, and in popular culture.[7,8,9] This rapid ascendancy of nutrition on policy agendas has some similarities to the ascendancy of global health that began a decade or two earlier.[10]
As a result of the social interaction, it is reflexive and more intentionally socially accountable. Based on this earlier work, we proposed 6 dimensions or tendencies that might define action-oriented population nutrition research (Table 1).[26]
After employing our first-stage elimination strat- Nutrition articles egies in which we excluded articles in nutrition were coded based journals with a narrow topic and articles in public on 5 actionhealth journals that did not meet our nutrition oriented research search terms criteria, we identified and reviewed characteristics: a total of 839 articles (762 from nutrition topic, processes/ journals, 77 from public health journals)
Summary
Global Health: Science and Practice 2015 | Volume 3 | Number 2 economic productivity, and national economic growth.[2,3,4,5,6] For these reasons, and as a fundamental aspect of human rights and equity, nutrition has risen on the agendas of international organizations, governments in developed and developing countries, the private sector, and in popular culture.[7,8,9] This rapid ascendancy of nutrition on policy agendas has some similarities to the ascendancy of global health that began a decade or two earlier.[10]. The concern for accountability and results has revealed a yawning gap in funding between mechanistic or efficacy research and research. Coverage of the Lancet child survival series estimated in 2003 existing that global child mortality could be reduced by interventions two-thirds through universal coverage of existing could reduce child interventions,[14] but a separate analysis revealed mortality by two- that 97% of child health research grants are focused thirds, but 97% of on developing new interventions rather than child health enhancing the delivery of existing interventions.[15] research grants. The relatively rapid ascendancy of nutrition and health on policy agendas, along with greater emphasis on accountability and results, has stimulated interest in new forms of research to guide the development and implementation of effective policies, programs, and interventions—what we refer to as action-oriented research. Action-oriented research in the nutrition field is thought to be the exception rather than the rule, but empirical evidence to support this claim is lacking
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