This open access book provides a set of conceptual, empirical, and comparative chapters that apply a public policy perspective to investigate the political and institutional factors driving the use of evidence to inform health policy in low, middle, and high income settings. The work presents key findings from the Getting Research Into Policy (GRIP-Health) project: a five year, six country, programme of work supported by the European Research Council. The chapters further our understanding of evidence utilisation in health policymaking through the application of theories and methods from the policy sciences. They present new insights into the roles and importance of factors such as issue contestation, institutional arrangements, logics of appropriateness, and donor influence to explore individual cases and comparative experiences in the use of evidence to inform health policy. Justin Parkhurst is Associate Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (the LSE)'s Department of Health Policy, UK. He has conducted research on a range of global health policy issues and on the politics of evidence. He served as the Principal Investigator of the GRIP-Health programme of work. Benjamin Hawkins is Associate Professor at the Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. His research focuses on the role of research evidence and corporate actors in health policy making. In addition, he works on European integration, multi-level governance international trade and political economy approaches to health policy. Stefanie Ettelt is Associate Professor at the Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. Her work examines the tensions between structure and agency in explaining the influence of evidence and research on policy-making and health system governance, particularly from a comparative perspective.

This open access book provides a set of conceptual, empirical, and comparative chapters that apply a public policy perspective to investigate the political and institutional factors driving the use of evidence to inform health policy in low, middle, and high income settings. The work presents key findings from the Getting Research Into Policy (GRIP-Health) project: a five year, six country, programme of work supported by the European Research Council. The chapters further our understanding of evidence utilisation in health policymaking through the application of theories and methods from the policy sciences. They present new insights into the roles and importance of factors such as issue contestation, institutional arrangements, logics of appropriateness, and donor influence to explore individual cases and comparative experiences in the use of evidence to inform health policy.

The Politics of Evidence Based Policymaking identifies how to work with policymakers to maximize the use of scientific evidence. Policymakers cannot consider all evidence relevant to policy problems. They use two shortcuts: ‘rational’ ways to gather enough evidence, and ‘irrational’ decision-making, drawing on emotions, beliefs, and habits. Most scientific studies focus on the former. They identify uncertainty when policymakers have incomplete evidence, and try to solve it by improving the supply of information. They do not respond to ambiguity, or the potential for policymakers to understand problems in very different ways. A good strategy requires advocates to be persuasive: forming coalitions with like-minded actors, and accompanying evidence with simple stories to exploit the emotional or ideological biases of policymakers.

“Evidence-Informed Health Policy serves as a foundation for policymaking using an evidence-informed model with emphasis on the fact that the best policy is based on evidence. The second edition helps transform students into healthcare advocates who can work collaboratively throughout the policymaking process, preparing them to engage at any policy level in shaping the future of nursing.” –Keeley Harding, DNP, APRN, CNS, CPNP-AC/PC; and Beverly Hittle, PhD, RN Assistant Professors and Course Faculty Leaders for Combined DNP-PhD Health Policy University of Cincinnati “This book is an essential resource for nurses and healthcare professionals who are engaged or interested in influencing health policy and navigating complex health policy environments.” –Jacalyn Buck, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAONL Clinical Professor Director, DNP Executive Track The Ohio State University College of Nursing “This new edition is a valuable resource for those nurses wanting to learn more about evidence-informed health policy, development of such policies, as well as the importance of nurse participation in their development.” –Jane F. Mahowald, MA, BSN, RN, ANEF Immediate past Executive Director of the Ohio League for Nursing What happens in health policy at local, state, and federal levels directly affects patients, nurses, and nursing practice. Some healthcare professionals, though, are intimidated by the complex and often nonlinear policy process or simply don’t know how to take the first step toward implementing policy change. In the second edition of Evidence-Informed Health Policy, authors Jacqueline M. Loversidge and Joyce Zurmehly demystify health policymaking and equip nurses and other healthcare professionals with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to navigate the first of many steps into health policy. This book translates the EBP language of clinical decision-making into an evidence-informed health policy (EIHP) model—a foundation for integrating evidence into health policymaking and leveraging dialogue with stakeholders. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Extending the Use of Evidence-Based Practice to Health Policymaking Chapter 2: The Use of Evidence: The Changing Landscape in Health Policymaking Chapter 3: Health Policy and Politics Chapter 4: Government Structures and Functions That Drive Process Chapter 5: Policymaking Processes and Models Chapter 6: An Overview of an Evidence-Informed Health Policy Model for Nursing Chapter 7: The Foundation: Steps 0 Through 3 of the EIHP Process Chapter 8: Policy Production: Steps 4 and 5 of the EIHP Process Chapter 9: Follow-Through: Steps 6 and 7 of the EIHP Process Chapter 10: Health Policy on a Global Scale Chapter 11: Evidence-Informed Health Policymaking: Challenges and Strategies Appendix A: Resources Appendix B: Global Examples of Evidence-Informed Policymaking: An Annotated Bibliography

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. There has been an enormous increase in interest in the use of evidence for public policymaking, but the vast majority of work on the subject has failed to engage with the political nature of decision making and how this influences the ways in which evidence will be used (or misused) within political areas. This book provides new insights into the nature of political bias with regards to evidence and critically considers what an ‘improved’ use of evidence would look like from a policymaking perspective. Part I describes the great potential for evidence to help achieve social goals, as well as the challenges raised by the political nature of policymaking. It explores the concern of evidence advocates that political interests drive the misuse or manipulation of evidence, as well as counter-concerns of critical policy scholars about how appeals to ‘evidence-based policy’ can depoliticise political debates. Both concerns reflect forms of bias – the first representing technical bias, whereby evidence use violates principles of scientific best practice, and the second representing issue bias in how appeals to evidence can shift political debates to particular questions or marginalise policy-relevant social concerns. Part II then draws on the fields of policy studies and cognitive psychology to understand the origins and mechanisms of both forms of bias in relation to political interests and values. It illustrates how such biases are not only common, but can be much more predictable once we recognise their origins and manifestations in policy arenas. Finally, Part III discusses ways to move forward for those seeking to improve the use of evidence in public policymaking. It explores what constitutes ‘good evidence for policy’, as well as the ‘good use of evidence’ within policy processes, and considers how to build evidence-advisory institutions that embed key principles of both scientific good practice and democratic representation. Taken as a whole, the approach promoted is termed the ‘good governance of evidence’ – a concept that represents the use of rigorous, systematic and technically valid pieces of evidence within decision-making processes that are representative of, and accountable to, populations served.

This book explores the complex relationship between public health research and policy, employing tobacco control and health inequalities in the UK as contrasting case studies. It argues that focusing on research-informed ideas usefully draws attention to the centrality of values, politics and advocacy for public health debates.

There have been increasing calls for health policy to be more 'evidence -based'. However, the question "is evidence-based health policy possible?" has yet to be answered. This book offers a critical perspective on the interplay between evidence generation and policy formulation. The book is illustrated by eleven case studies of health policy making that reveal how evidence was used in particular policy making contexts. This provides unique insights from people who have been involved in the policy process.