Can Systems Thinking Become "The Way We Do Things?" Comment on "What Can Policy-Makers Get Out of Systems Thinking? Policy Partners' Experiences of a Systems-Focused Research Collaboration in Preventive Health".

Bev J Holmes

doi:10.34172/ijhpm.2020.70

Abstract

In "What Can Policy-Makers Get Out of Systems Thinking? Policy Partners’ Experiences of a Systems-Focused Research Collaboration in Preventive Health," Haynes et al glean two important insights from the policy-makers they interview. First: active promotion of systems thinking may work against its champions. Haynes and colleagues’ findings support a backgrounding of systems thinking; more important for policy-makers than understanding the finer details of systems thinking is working in situations of mutual learning and shared expertise. Second: coproduction may be getting short shrift in prevention research. Most participant comments were not about systems thinking, but about the benefits of working across sectors. Operationalizing the ‘co’ in co-production is not easy, but it may be where the pay-off will be for prevention researchers, who must understand the critical success factors of co-production and its potential pitfalls, to capitalize on its significant opportunities.

Highlights

Many researchers, practitioners and policy-makers celebrated the launch of the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre in 2013 and have followed its progress since
In “What Can Policy-Makers Get Out of Systems Thinking? Policy Partners’ Experiences of a Systems-Focused Research Collaboration in Preventive Health,”[4] Haynes et al report on interviews with policy-makers involved with the Partnership Centre
Systems Thinking: Have We Created a Monster? As a knowledge translation (KT) practitioner and researcher, I was a vocal advocate of that field and a staunch defender and user of its terms and definitions – until a health promotion colleague said to me a few years ago: “I’ve just learned what KT is; turns out I’ve been doing it for 30 years.”

Summary

Introduction

Practitioners and policy-makers celebrated the launch of the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre in 2013 and have followed its progress since. Policy Partners’ Experiences of a Systems-Focused Research Collaboration in Preventive Health,”[4] Haynes et al report on interviews with policy-makers involved with the Partnership Centre.

Results

Conclusion