Barriers and facilitators of translating doctoral research findings into policy: the case of a selected health sciences school in a South African university

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough the barriers and facilitators of translating health research into policy are generally well documented, not much has been reported for universities in low-and middle-income countries. We identified and analyzed barriers and facilitators of translating doctoral research findings into policy in a selected health sciences school in a South African university. MethodsThe study adopted a quantitative descriptive research design. We conveniently collected data through an online questionnaire administered to 47 PhD graduates, 11 PhD final year students and 21 PhD supervisors of the School of Nursing and Public Health. Descriptive statistics was performed, and data were summarized using percentages. ResultsMore than half (72.4%) of the students reported not involving Department of Health during formulation of research questions for their projects and 62.1% reported not directly sharing research findings with the Department of Health. 53.4% of the students indicated that they attended Department of Health research days and only 39.7% said they presented research findings at the meetings. Only 39.7% of the students who shared their research results to the Department of Health received feedback. About 52.4% of the academic supervisors believed the introduction of the quartile system as a measure of impact of publications may reduce policy impact. An individual PhD supervisor supervises an average of 6 PhD students at any given time. 85.7% of PhD supervisors reported that they consider stakeholders needs/interests when assisting students to identify research topics. ConclusionThe study revealed the need for universities to make policymakers aware of available evidence, conduct research that is informed by the Department of Health’s research agenda, involve the Department of Health in identifying research projects, and disseminate findings using platforms accessible to policymakers. Other key considerations are political will to utilize evidence, packaging evidence in a user-friendly manner and building the capacity of policymakers to use evidence.