WHO, 2015
HEALTH IN ALL POLICIES (HIAP)
Frieden, T. (2010). A Framework for Public Health Action: The Health Impact Pyramid.
American Journal of Public Health, 100 (4), 590-595
Issues for action
• How to prioritize which issues to address??
• Consider:
• Is the problem or issue of major public health
importance?
• Is the problem or issue amenable to change and
change is feasible?
• Is there sound evidence that it can be tackled?
• Are potential solutions politically and socially
acceptable?
• Is the Policy effective: meeting is goals and targets?
Working towards better policy
• Researchers need to communicate more broadly to a
variety of audiences beyond ‘other researchers’
Coveney, J. (2010). "Analyzing Public Health Policy: Three Approaches." Health Promotion Practice 11(4): 515-521.
Policy Analysis
• Not decision making
• Gathering data & information
• Costs and benefits of policy from a range of different
approaches
• Analysis of policy
• Helps identify if issues are not being priorities or resourced
• Helps identify if policy and practice / interventions arising
from its implementation are meeting the evidence and policy
intent / context / political rhetoric
• Is a prerequisite in advocacy work
• Informs Policy Maker
Policy Analysis
• Analysis of the policy process:
• Decision making level - identify who makes the decision & why
• Policy stakeholders ‘actors or players’
• Rational comprehensive, Incremental, mixed scanning ‘compromises’
• Policymaking Process level
• How were problems defined, agendas set, policy formulated
• Structural level
• Policy evaluation
• How was it implemented
• Consider the wider economic, political, technological, social, cultural
and historical context and influences (Palmer & Short 2014)
• Analysis in and for the policy process:
• Use of analytical techniques, research and advocacy in problem
definition, decision-making, evaluation and implementation.
Policy Analysis
• Context and content fundamental components
• Economic
• Cost- benefit analysis or Market analysis
• Achieve economic goals???
• Social
• Social justice – human rights - equity
• Unintended effects
• Environmental
• Impact environment, community
• Legal
• Accountability, human rights, reform needed..
Althaus, C., et al. (2012). The Australian policy handbook. Sydney, Allen & Unwin.
2. Policy analysis
• Improves chances of
• Successful implementation
• Achieving policy goals
• Ongoing funding options
• https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0032/60
1889/qh-hiv-action-plan.pdf
• https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/60
1935/qh-sexual-health-strategy.pdf
Policy Analysis: Asking the Right
Questions
• What is the present policy?
• How, when, why did the policy come into being?
• Who are the policy makers?
• What have been the stages & methods used in the policy
making process?
• Is this the best process for this policy?
• Is it a good policy, what has it achieved?
• Does the present policy need to be changed?
Need a framework or a systematic approach
Palmer & Short 2010 p. 27-28
CDC Policy Evaluation Questions
CDC (Undated). Step by Step – Evaluating Violence and Injury Prevention Policies. Brief 3: Evaluating Policy Content, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/injury/pdfs/policy/Brief%203-a.pdf
ANALYTIC PROCEDURE – HOW TO DO IT!
• Phase 1: Selecting data / documents
• Phase 2: Appraising (making sense of) data
• Phase 3: Synthesising data
Brown 2009
FRAMEWORK ANALYSIS
1. Familiarization
2. Identifying a thematic framework
3. Indexing – applying codes from the framework
4. Charting – entering the summarized data into a
framework matrix
5. Mapping and interpretation
Policy evidence
Implementation
Monitoring and evaluation
Stakeholder engagement
STAGES OF FRAMEWORK ANALYSIS
3 Indexing
• Identify relevant, meaningful, passages of text or data
that are linked to a particular theme.
4 Charting
• Lifting the specific pieces of data it from its original
context in the text and placing in charts that consist of
headings and subheadings
STAGES OF FRAMEWORK ANALYSIS
5 Mapping and interpretation
• Analysis of key characteristics laid out in
the charts.
• Consider documents with a critical eye
• e.g. they are not necessarily “precise,
accurate or complete”
Activity!
• Queensland sexual health strategy – PRISONERS
• https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/442681/sexual-health-strategy-
consult.pdf
Criteria Illustrative excerpts
Policy background Briefly summarise the background / stats specific to the
population of prisoners in Qld.
Policy evidence
Implementation This section should describe the implementation processes for
your policy. What policy tools and processes for implementation
does the policy describe? What financial, human and/or
organisational resources for implementation are identified by
the policy? What facilitators and/or barriers to implementation
does the policy describe?
Monitoring and
evaluation
Stakeholder
engagement
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
“Documents of all types can help the researcher uncover
meaning, develop understanding, and discover insights
relevant to the research problem”
Merriam, 1988 in Bowen, 2009
Gale, N. K., et al. (2013). "Using the framework method for the analysis of qualitative data in multi-disciplinary health research." BMC Medical Research
Methodology 13(1): 1-8.
Srivastava, A. and S. B. Thomson (2009). "Framework analysis: a qualitative methodology for applied policy research." Journal of Administration and Governance
4(72)
Srivastava and Thomson (2009). "Framework analysis: a qualitative methodology for applied policy research." Journal of Administration and Governance 4(72).
Document analysis criteria – Cheung 2010
1. Accessibility.
• Facilitator or barrier to usefulness and implementation of policy.
• Who are identified as the intended audience for this program
2. Policy background.
• Consideration of scientific results
• Difference sources of evidence
3. Goals: Clear and precise
4. Resources: Financial resource, organisational capacity
5. Monitoring and evaluation:
• Independent evaluation strengthens the analyses’ credibility.
• Data collection before and after implementation also increases the
credibility of the evaluation.
6. Political opportunities. Assessment of political opportunities is
difficult using document analysis. Thus, this criterion was
excluded from analysis.
7. Public opportunities: stakeholder involvement
8. Obligations. Development of explicit objectives and obligations
Cheung, K. K., et al. (2010). "Health policy analysis: a tool to evaluate in policy documents the alignment between policy statements and intended outcomes." Australian Health Review 34(4): 405-413.
Summary of document analysis
• Document mapping proved to be vital in obtaining a
complete picture of the policy documents
• Identify where policies are not consistent with their
intended outcomes
PROS OF DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
• ‘Triangulation’ – using different methodologies to study the same
phenomenon i.e. convergence and corroboration to reduce
potential bias in a single study
• Efficient – data selection not data collection!
• Available, original textual material can be easily accessed
• Cost-effective
• Documents are not affected by the research process, stable
• May cover long span of time, different events and settings
• Systematic and comprehensive– methodical analysis of the data
• Enables comparisons between and associations within different
policy cases, documents, issues
• Analyses and interpretations can be judged by others
• (Gale et al. 2013; Bowen, 2009)
CONS OF DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
• They may not hold the detail you need
• Sometimes hard to access
• May be biased if specific documents selected
• Role of the researcher
• Documents do not necessarily reflect what happens ‘on
the ground’
• (Bowen, 2009)
CHALLANGES OF DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
• Not all policy and implementation strategies are
grounded in evidence
• How do you assess
• Policy grounded in values based
• Policy based on a symbolic government concern or platform
• Address an insignificant element of complex real problem.
• Systematic assessment of the policy process and its
assumptions helps to expose such limitations
• Responsibility of the policy analyst
• (De Leeuw 2014)
CHALLANGES OF DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
“the causal and final chains of drivers and consequences
of policies and their contexts are hard to map, and many
policies fail to include specific performance criteria or
direct intervention parameters” (UNEP 2014)
• Setting the boundaries of a policy analysis therefore
becomes a negotiated process between many
stakeholders
• Recognises the uniqueness of each policy issue and
context
• Focus on intermediate policy effects rather than end-
point health impact
de Leeuw, E., et al. (2014). "Health policy--why research it and how: health political science." Health research policy and systems 12: 55-55.
UNEP: Training Manual - Module 5–6.5.1 Understanding Policy Effects and Policy Effectiveness; 2014. [http://www.unep.org/ieacp/iea/training/manual/
module5/1236.aspx].
Team Work
• Create a list of National and Queensland
Sexual health related strategies.
• Compare
• The goals or visions
• Strategic directions and priority actions
• Compare the content of the policies to
identify major similarities and differences
between them.
Task 2: Health Policy Document Analysis
• Step 1: Select a policy document for your document
analysis
• Step 2: Extract data and compile illustrative excerpts
from your chosen policy document
• Step 3: Analyse and synthesise the findings from your
consideration of the content of the policy.
• This section makes up the main body of your assessment
• Maximum word count 2000 not including title, reference list
or Appendix, Table 1
Task 2: Health Policy Document Analysis
Data extraction tool
Criteria Illustrative excerpts
Policy background Provide a clear background to your policy, including the population(s) to whom the policy is meant to
apply, and the main aims and proposed actions of your policy.
Policy evidence Discuss the evidence base for your policy. To what extent was the policy informed by ‘evidence’ from
credible sources? What contextual factors that impact on health (e.g., social, cultural and ecological
determinants of health) were identified in the policy?
Implementation Describe the implementation processes for your policy. What policy tools and processes for
implementation does the policy describe? What financial, human and/or organisational resources for
implementation are identified by the policy? What facilitators and/or barriers to implementation does
the policy describe?
Monitoring and Outline the monitoring and evaluation processes for your policy.
evaluation
Stakeholder Describe the policy stakeholders and the processes used to engage them. List stakeholders identified in
engagement the policy and briefly consider their role in the development or implementation of the policy. Does the
document mention cooperation between different levels of government (federal, local, state)? Was the
policy externally reviewed or evaluated by stakeholders? What was the outcome of this process? Were
the views and preferences of the target population sought? Does the document identify the
advantages/disadvantages the policy may bring to particular stakeholder group(s)?
Task 2: Health Policy Document Analysis
Data extraction tool
Questions
Judith Dean
Level 0 Room 022
School of Public Health
Ph: + 61 7 3346 4876
j.dean4@uq.edu.au
REFERENCES
• Bowen, G.A. (2009),"Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method",
Qualitative Research Journal, Vol. 9, 2, pp. 27 - 40.
• Broom, A. and Adams, J. (2012) Evidence-based health care in context: Critical
social science perspectives. Ashgate, Surrey England.
• Cheung, K., Mirzaei, M., and Leeder, S., (2009). Health policy analysis: a tool to
evaluate in policy documents the alignment between policy statements and
intended outcomes. Australian Health Review 34(4) 405-413.
• Farrer et al. 2015. Advocacy for health equity. The Milbank Quarterly, 93(2),
392-437.
• Frieden, T. R. (2010). A framework for public health action: The health impct
pyramid. Am J Public Health. 100(4): 590–595.
• Freudenberg N, Franzosa E, Chisholm J, Libman K. 2015. New Approaches for
Moving Upstream: How State and Local Health Departments Can Transform
Practice to Reduce Health Inequalities. Health Education & Behavior, Vol.
42(1S) 46S–56S.
• Frolich, K. and Potvin, L. (2008) Transcending the Known in Public Health
Practice. The Inequality Paradox: The Population Approach and Vulnerable
Populations. Am J Public Health. 98(2): 216–22.
• Gale, N., Heath, G., Cameron, E., Rashid, S., and Redwood, S. (2013). Using the
framework method for the analysis of qualitative data in multi-disciplinary
health research. BMC Medical Research Methodology201313:117.
REFERENCES
• Golden S, Earp, J-A. 2012. Social ecological approaches to individuals and their
contexts. Twenty Years of Health Education & Behavior Health Promotion
Interventions. Health Educ Behav, 39(3), 364-372.
• Lieberman L, Golden S, Earp J-A (2014). Structural Approaches to Health Promotion.
What Do We Need to Know About Policy and Environmental Change? Health Education
and Behavior, 40(5):520-5.
• Broom, A. and Adams, J. (2012) Evidence-based health care in context: Critical social
science perspectives. Ashgate, Surrey England.
• Farrer et al. 2015. Advocacy for health equity. The Milbank Quarterly, 93(2), 392-437.
• Freudenberg N, Franzosa E, Chisholm J, Libman K. 2015. New Approaches for Moving
Upstream: How State and Local Health Departments Can Transform Practice to Reduce
Health Inequalities. Health Education & Behavior, Vol. 42(1S) 46S–56S.
• Frolich, K. and Potvin, L. (2008) Transcending the Known in Public Health Practice. The
Inequality Paradox: The Population Approach and Vulnerable Populations. Am J Public
Health. 98(2): 216–22.
• Golden S, Earp, J-A. 2012. Social ecological approaches to individuals and their
contexts. Twenty Years of Health Education & Behavior Health Promotion
Interventions. Health Educ Behav, 39(3), 364-372.
REFERENCES
• Lin V, Smith J & Fawkes S (2014) Chapter 6 Public health interventions: From
quarantine to the rise of ‘evidence-based practice’. Public Health Practice in
Australia. The Organised Effort. Allen & Unwin, Australia.
• Pons-Vigués M, Dies E, Morrison H, Salas-Nicás S, Hoffman R et al. 2014. Social
and health policies or interventions to tackle health inequalities in European
cities: a scoping review. BMC Public Health, 14:198.
• Rasanathan, K, Montesinos, E, Matheson, D, Etiene, C,, Evans, T. 2011. Primary
health care and the social determinants of health: essential and complementary
approaches for reducing inequities in health. Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health, 65(8):656-60.
• Ritchie, J. & Spencer, L. 1994. Qualitative data analysis for applied policy
research" by Jane Ritchie and Liz Spencer in A.Bryman and R. G. Burgess [eds.]
“Analyzing qualitative data”, 1994, pp.173-194.
• Solar O, Irwin A. A conceptual framework for action on the social determinants
of health. Social Determinants of Health Discussion Paper 2 (Policy and Practice).
• Srivastava, A. & Thomson, S.B. (2009). Framework analysis: A qualitative
methodology for applied policy research. Journal of Administration and
Governance, 4, 72.
• World Health Organization (2015). Health in All Policies Training Manual.
Available at URL:www.who.int/social_determinants/publications/health-policies-
manual/en/