It is now widely accepted that many of the problems we face in public health are complex, from chronic disease to COVID-19. To grapple with such complexity, researchers have turned to both complexity science and systems thinking to better understand the problems and their context. Less work, however, has focused on the nature of complex solutions, or intervention design, when tackling complex problems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is increasing interest in using systems thinking to tackle 'wicked' policy problems in preventive health, but this can be challenging for policy-makers because the literature is amorphous and often highly theoretical. Little is known about how best to support health policy-makers to gain skills in understanding and applying systems thinking for policy action.
Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 policy-makers who are participating in an Australian research collaboration that uses a systems approach.
Background: Cross-sector collaborative partnerships are a vital strategy in efforts to strengthen research-informed policy and practice and may be particularly effective at addressing the complex problems associated with chronic disease prevention. However, there is still a limited understanding of how such partnerships are implemented in practice and how their implementation contributes to outcomes. This paper explores the operationalisation and outcomes of knowledge mobilisation strategies within the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre - a research collaboration between policy-makers, practitioners and researchers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Res Policy Syst
January 2020
Background: In coproduction research, traditional 'end-users' are involved in the entire research process. The aim is to facilitate research translation by improving the timeliness and relevance of research. Because end-users often come from multiple sectors and hold diverse perspectives and priorities, involving them in coproduction can be challenging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Systems approaches are promising yet under-utilized methods for tackling complex public health problems. This paper explores how systems approaches are understood in the public health literature, how they have been applied in Canada, the insights, and implications for future practice.
Methods: A rapid review of the literature, including a content analysis and cross-case comparison, was conducted.
Background: Cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary partnership research is considered one of the most effective means of facilitating research-informed policy and practice, particularly for addressing complex problems such as chronic disease. Successful research partnerships tend to be underpinned by a range of features that enable knowledge mobilisation (KMb), seeking to connect academic researchers with decision-makers and practitioners to improve the nature, quality and use of research. This paper contributes to the growing discourse on partnership approaches by illustrating how knowledge mobilisation strategies are operationalised within the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre (the Centre), a national collaboration of academics, policy-makers and practitioners established to develop systems approaches for the prevention of lifestyle-related chronic diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Manage
January 2016
The changing role of the state in the last quarter century has been an important contemporary concern for policy makers, scholars, and the public. Equally, there is increasing recognition among governance scholars that nongovernment actors are exerting new kinds of influence over governance systems and contributing in novel ways to governance processes. The role of environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) is particularly pertinent given the continued involvement of ENGOs within collaborative, adaptive, and co-management governance, across several contexts and regions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF