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Evidence for public health policy on inequalities II: Assembling the evidence jigsaw

Whitehead, M.; Petticrew, M.; Graham, H.; Macintyre, S.; Bambra, C.; Egan, M.

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Authors

M. Whitehead

M. Petticrew

H. Graham

S. Macintyre

C. Bambra

M. Egan



Abstract

Study objective: To garner research leaders’ perceptions and experiences of the types of evidence that influence policy on health inequalities, and their reflections on how the flow of such research evidence could be increased. Design, setting, and participants: Qualitative two day residential workshop with senior research leaders, most of whom were currently involved in evaluations of the health effects of major policies. In four in depth sessions, facilitated by the authors in turn, focused questions were presented to participants to reveal their views and experiences concerning evidence synthesis for policy on inequalities. These were analysed thematically. Main results: Five types of evidence for policy on health inequalities were felt to be particularly persuasive with policymakers: observational evidence showing the existing of a problem; narrative accounts of the impacts of policies from the household perspective; controlled evaluations; natural policy experiments; and historical evidence. Methods of improving the availability and use of these sources of information were put forward. Conclusions: This paper and its companion have considered the current evidence base for policies to reduce health inequalities, and how this could be improved. There is striking congruence between the views of the researchers in this study and policy advisers in paper 1, suggesting that a common understanding may be emerging. The findings suggest significant potential for rapid progress to be made in developing both evidence based policy, and policy relevant evidence to tackle inequalities in health.

Citation

Whitehead, M., Petticrew, M., Graham, H., Macintyre, S., Bambra, C., & Egan, M. (2004). Evidence for public health policy on inequalities II: Assembling the evidence jigsaw. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 58(10), 817-821. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2003.015297

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Oct 1, 2004
Deposit Date Nov 7, 2008
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Print ISSN 0143-005X
Electronic ISSN 1470-2738
Publisher BMJ Publishing Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 58
Issue 10
Pages 817-821
DOI https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2003.015297
Keywords Evidence based policy, Health inequalities.

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