LIST OF PANELS

Context: Bureaucrats translating research evidence to health policies (including physical activity) for consideration by elected leaders and the allied health related policy preferences of politicians require further investigation (Racine et al., 2020)

General Objective: Contextualizing research translation to policy contingent upon political and bureaucratic environments.

Scientific relevance: Translation of evidence into policy action across many allied health fields makes for slow progress. Physical activity provides an excellent example. Recent debate in the Lancet about ‘what gets measured doesn’t always get done’ (Kent et al., 2022) provides an opportunity for discussion about the application of political science to allied health and physical activity policy development.

Kent et al., (2022) propose that health research needs to interrogate beyond measurement alone, when investigating the changes required to promote healthier cities.  Issues including changes to the systems influencing outcomes, the prioritisation of epidemiological data alone rather than deeper understandings of the political, economic and regulatory barriers to change and a focus on quantitative research methods helps get research published but does not necessarily get things done.

Oliver and Cairney (2019) synthesised research evidence regarding how academics can influence policymaking. The authors condensed the advice into eight ‘common sense’ recommendations but caution regarding different beliefs about the nature of the problem to be solved and the importance of evidence based critical analysis and insights to inform application of the recommendations. 

Idea: Oliver and Cairney’s (2019) ‘Dos and Don’ts of influencing policy’ recommendations provide a list of recommendations to help academics inform evidence-based policy making beyond the mere production of quantitative data. Can Oliver and Cairney’s (2019) compilation form the basis of recommended policy entrepreneur practices dependent upon the favourability/unfavourability of bureaucratic vs political environments of a particular allied health policy problem

Contemporary views of the policy process ascertain that it is messy and best described as juggling (Howlett et al., 2009) or weaving (De Leeuw et al., 2017), rather than in a more traditional heuristic (along a line, or cyclical). A range of variables can influence how favourable bureaucratic and political environments are relating to a particular policy challenge.

Translation of evidence into policy action across many allied health fields makes for slow progress. Physical activity provides an excellent example. Recent debate in the Lancet about ‘what gets measured doesn’t always get done’ (Kent et al., 2022) provides an opportunity for discussion about the application of political science to allied health and physical activity policy development processes.

The current proposal is seeking papers relating to the translation of research evidence to allied health policy development processes. We are particularly interested in receiving papers referring to all aspects of physical activity policy development including;

·         What is the role of measurement and targets to address public health lifestyle challenges such as physical inactivity?

·         How can existing recommendations to help academics inform evidence-based policy accommodate changes to bureaucratic and political environments relating to a particular public health issue?

·         What research methods are most effective to capture allied health/physical activity policy development processes?

·         What lessons can be learnt from the successful application of political science theory to allied health policy development challenges to help address current and future allied health challenges?

References

Oliver, K. and Cairney, P. (2017). The dos and don’ts of influencing policy: a systematic review of advice to academics. Palgrave Commun 5, 21 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0232-y

De Leeuw, E., Hoeijmakers, M., Peters, D. (2017). Juggling multiple networks in multiple streams. European Policy Analysis, 2(1) 196-217

Howlett, M. Ramesh, M., Peri, A. (2009). Studying Public Policy: Policy Cycles & Policy Subsystems. Oxford University Press: Oxford UK, 2009

Kent, J. Harris, P. and Thompson, S. (2022). What gets measured does not always get done. The Lancet Global Health Vol 10 (9), E1235.

Racine, A., Garbarino, J.-M.; Massiera, B., Vuillemin, A. (2020) A scoping review of published research on local government policies promoting health-enhancing physical activity. Int. J. Environ Res Public Health Jan 22: 19(3):1213.