Opportunities for linking research to policy: lessons learned from implementation research in sexual and reproductive health within the ANSER\xa0network

Emilomo Ogbe,Lucia Knight,Simukai Shamu,Diane Cooper,Anna Galle,Dirk Van Braeckel,Feng Cheng,Hanani Tabana,Elin C Larsson,Gunta Lazdāne ,Kaiyan Pei,Marleen Temmerman,Wilson De Los Reyes Aragón,Sônia Dias ,Peter Gichangi,Tammary Esho,Inês Keygnaert ,Anne Nobels,Hazel Barrett,Olivier Degomme

doi:10.1186/s12961-018-0397-7

Abstract

BackgroundThe uptake of findings from sexual and reproductive health and rights research into policy-making remains a complex and non-linear process. Different models of research utilisation and guidelines to maximise this in policy-making exist, however, challenges still remain for researchers to improve uptake of their research findings and for policy-makers to use research evidence in their work.MethodsA participatory workshop with researchers was organised in November 2017 by the Academic Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Policy (ANSER) to address this gap. ANSER is a consortium of experienced researchers, some of whom have policy-making experience, working on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues across 16 countries and 5 continents. The experiential learning cycle was used to guide the workshop discussions based on case studies and to encourage participants to focus on key lessons learned. Workshop findings were thematically analysed using specific stages from Hanney et al.’s (Health Res Policy Syst 1:2, 2003) framework on the place of policy-making in the stages of assessment of research utilisation and outcomes.ResultsThe workshop identified key strategies for translating research into policy, including joint agenda-setting between researchers and policy-makers, as well as building trust and partnerships with different stakeholders. These were linked to stages within Hanney et al.’s framework as opportunities for engaging with policy-makers to ensure uptake of research findings.ConclusionThe engagement of stakeholders during the research development and implementation phases, especially at strategic moments, has a positive impact on uptake of research findings. The strategies and stages described in this paper can be applied to improve utilisation of research findings into policy development and implementation globally.

Highlights

The impact of research on policy development is complex [1]
These different models explain the spectrum of research utilisation by policy-makers, going from a linear process that assumes uptake of evidence is based on the existence of information and relevant technology only, to more dynamic interactive models that take into account context, political priorities, stakeholder involvement and multiple sources of information used in the policy development process [4]
The 22 workshop participants included sexual and reproductive health (SRH) researchers from different leading academic institutions based in South Africa, Germany, China, Kenya, Nigeria, Portugal, Belgium and the United Kingdom, as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) experts with experience in developing international health policies drawn from different continents, including the European Union, Africa and Asia

Summary

Introduction

The impact of research on policy development is complex [1]. Policy formulation and implementation processes do not necessarily incorporate knowledge and research evidence, while research findings do not necessarily result in policy changes [1, 2]. Weiss discussed the different models of research utilisation and grouped them into ‘the knowledge-driven model’, ‘the problem solving model’, ‘the interactive model’, ‘the political model’, ‘the tactical model’ and ‘the enlightenment model’ and defined ‘research as part of the intellectual enterprise of the society’ [4] These different models explain the spectrum of research utilisation by policy-makers, going from a linear process (knowledge-driven model) that assumes uptake of evidence is based on the existence of information and relevant technology only, to more dynamic interactive models that take into account context, political priorities, stakeholder involvement and multiple sources of information used in the policy development process [4]. Different models of research utilisation and guidelines to maximise this in policy-making exist, challenges still remain for researchers to improve uptake of their research findings and for policy-makers to use research evidence in their work

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion