Measuring use of research evidence in public health policy: a policy content analysis.

Pauline Zardo,Alex Collie

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-496

Abstract

BackgroundThere are few Australian studies showing how research evidence is used to inform the development of public health policy. International research has shown that compensation for injury rehabilitation can have negative impacts on health outcomes. This study examined transport injury compensation policy in the Australian state of Victoria to: determine type and purpose of reference to information sources; and to identify the extent of reference to academic research evidence in transport related injury rehabilitation compensation policy.MethodsQuantitative content analysis of injury rehabilitation compensation policies (N = 128) from the Victorian state government transport accident compensation authority.ResultsThe most commonly referenced types of information were Internal Policy (median = 6 references per policy), Clinical/Medical (2.5), and Internal Legislation (1). Academic Research Evidence was the least often referenced source of information. The main purpose of reference to information was to support injury treatment and rehabilitation compensation claims decision-making.ConclusionsTransport injury compensation policy development is complex; with multiple sources of information cited including legislation, internal policy, external policy and clinical/medical evidence. There is limited use of academic research evidence in Victorian state government injury treatment and rehabilitation compensation policies. Decisions regarding compensation for injury treatment and rehabilitation services could benefit from greater use of academic research evidence. This study is one of the first to examine the use of research evidence in existing Australian public health policy decision-making using rigorous quantitative methods. It provides a practical example of how use of research evidence in public health policy can be objectively measured.

Highlights

There are few Australian studies showing how research evidence is used to inform the development of public health policy
The objectives of this study were to: (1) examine the types of information used in Victorian transport injury treatment and rehabilitation compensation policies; (2) determine the purpose of reference to information in these policies; and (3) determine the level of reference to academic research evidence in these policies
Internal Policy, Clinical/Medical Evidence, Internal Legislation and Other Evidence were the types of information most commonly referenced

Summary

Introduction

There are few Australian studies showing how research evidence is used to inform the development of public health policy. Approaches to funding or supporting the costs of injury treatment and rehabilitation and loss of income due to injury vary significantly across countries and jurisdictions [13,14]. Countries such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia have ‘no fault’ injury compensation schemes (Personal Injury Education [15]). The health systems in these countries operate quite differently to those that provide comprehensive health treatment and services support, such as the National Health Service in the United Kingdom; where costs relating to injury treatment and rehabilitation and payments for loss of income are primarily covered by the one funding body [14,16,17]. The 2013 Commonwealth Fund Report showed that in Australia ‘out-of-pocket’ health care costs per capita are more than double that in the United Kingdom [16]

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