Increasing the capacity of policy agencies to use research findings: a stepped-wedge trial

Anna Williamson; Daniel Barker; Sally Green; Catherine D'Este; Huw T O Davies; Louisa Jorm; Anthony Shakeshaft; Sian Rudge; Sally Redman

doi:10.1186/s12961-018-0408-8

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Increasing the capacity of policy agencies to use research findings: a stepped-wedge trial

Journal article

Open access

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Increasing the capacity of policy agencies to use research findings: a stepped-wedge trial

Anna Williamson, Daniel Barker, Sally Green, Catherine D'Este, Huw T O Davies, Louisa Jorm, Anthony Shakeshaft, Sian Rudge and Sally Redman

Health Research Policy and Systems, Vol.17, pp.1-16

2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-018-0408-8

PMID: 30728034

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Abstract

Policy

evidence

knowledge translation

knowledge mobilisation,

intervention

This paper describes the trial of a novel intervention, Supporting Policy In health with evidence from Research: an Intervention Trial (SPIRIT). It examines (1) the feasibility of delivering this kind of programme in practice; (2) its acceptability to participants; (3) the impact of the programme on the capacity of policy agencies to engage with research; and (4) the engagement with and use of research by policy agencies. SPIRIT was a multifaceted, highly tailored, stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised, trial involving six health policy agencies in Sydney, Australia. Agencies were randomly allocated to one of three start dates to receive the 1-year intervention programme. SPIRIT included audit, feedback and goal setting; a leadership programme; staff training; the opportunity to test systems to facilitate research use in policies; and exchange with researchers. Outcome measures were collected at each agency every 6 months for 30 months. Participation in SPIRIT was associated with significant increases in research use capacity at staff and agency levels. Staff reported increased confidence in research use skills, and agency leaders reported more extensive systems and structures in place to support research use. Self-report data suggested there was also an increase in tactical research use among agency staff. Given the relatively small numbers of participating agencies and the complexity of their contexts, findings suggest it is possible to effect change in the way policy agencies approach the use of research. This is supported by the responses on the other trial measures; while these were not statistically significant, on 18 of the 20 different measures used, the changes observed were consistent with the hypothesised intervention effect (that is, positive impacts). As an early test of an innovative approach, SPIRIT has demonstrated that it is possible to increase research engagement and use in policy agencies. While more work is needed to establish the replicability and generalisability of these findings, this trial suggests that building staff skills and organisational structures may be effective in increasing evidence use.

Details

Title: Increasing the capacity of policy agencies to use research findings: a stepped-wedge trial
Authors: Anna Williamson (Corresponding Author) - Sax Institute
Daniel Barker - University of Newcastle Australia
Sally Green - Monash University
Catherine D'Este - University of Canberra
Huw T O Davies - University of St Andrews
Louisa Jorm - UNSW Sydney
Anthony Shakeshaft - UNSW Sydney
Sian Rudge - Sax Institute
Sally Redman - Sax Institute
Publication details: Health Research Policy and Systems, Vol.17, pp.1-16
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd.
Date published: 2019
DOI: 10.1186/s12961-018-0408-8
ISSN: 1478-4505
PMID: 30728034
Copyright note: The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Data Availability: The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available at the request of participating agencies but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Grants: Centre for Informing Policy in Health with Evidence from Research (CIPHER), 1001436, National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - NHMRC
Grant note: SPIRIT was funded as part of the Centre for Informing Policy in Health with Evidence from Research (CIPHER).
Organisation Unit: School of Health - Psychology
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991241459902621
Output Type: Journal article

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