Health and Advocacy: What Are the Barriers to the Use of Evidence in Policy?

Abstract

There is now a large literature on the barriers to the use of research evidence in policy and practice. I analyse the literature critically, identifying a tendency to bemoan the evidence-policy gap without using policy theory and empirical policy studies to inform the analysis. I identify the ways in which policy theories can be used to improve health policy analysis. I draw on two case studies: tobacco policy, to demonstrate a relatively successful (but ongoing) project, by tobacco control advocates, to turn the identification of a health problem into a proportionate policy response; and, the role of ‘improvement science’ which focuses on how practitioners use evidence on the ground or at the ‘street level’.