TY - JOUR
T1 - The challenge of bridging the gap between researchers and policy makers
T2 - experiences of a Health Policy Research Group in engaging policy makers to support evidence informed policy making in Nigeria
AU - Uzochukwu, Benjamin
AU - Onwujekwe, Obinna
AU - Mbachu, Chinyere
AU - Okwuosa, Chinenye
AU - Etiaba, Enyi
AU - Nyström, Monica E.
AU - Gilson, Lucy
N1 - Funding Information:
The research leading to these results has received funding from the Seventh Framework Programme Health. 2010.3.4-3 under Grant Agreement No: 265482 through the Consortium for Health Policy and Systems Analysis in Africa (CHEPSAA) project.
Funding Information:
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the management of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu campus providing the enabling environment to undertake this research. Special recognition is given to all the field workers who helped in collecting the data for this work. We would also like to thank the unanimous reviewers of this submission for their constructive comments that enabled this article to be improved.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Author(s).
PY - 2016/11/4
Y1 - 2016/11/4
N2 - Background: Getting research into policy and practice (GRIPP) is a process of going from research evidence to decisions and action. To integrate research findings into the policy making process and to communicate research findings to policymakers is a key challenge world-wide. This paper reports the experiences of a research group in a Nigerian university when seeking to 'do' GRIPP, and the important features and challenges of this process within the African context. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with nine purposively selected policy makers in various organizations and six researchers from the universities and research institute in a Nigerian who had been involved in 15 selected joint studies/projects with Health Policy Research Group (HPRG). The interviews explored their understanding and experience of the methods and processes used by the HPRG to generate research questions and research results; their involvement in the process and whether the methods were perceived as effective in relation to influencing policy and practice and factors that influenced the uptake of research results. Results: The results are represented in a model with the four GRIPP strategies found: i) stakeholders' request for evidence to support the use of certain strategies or to scale up health interventions; ii) policymakers and stakeholders seeking evidence from researchers; iii) involving stakeholders in designing research objectives and throughout the research process; and iv) facilitating policy maker-researcher engagement in finding best ways of using research findings to influence policy and practice and to actively disseminate research findings to relevant stakeholders and policymakers. The challenges to research utilization in health policy found were to address the capacity of policy makers to demand and to uptake research, the communication gap between researchers, donors and policymakers, the management of the political process of GRIPP, the lack of willingness of some policy makers to use research, the limited research funding and the resistance to change. Conclusions: Country based Health Policy and Systems Research groups can influence domestic policy makers if appropriate strategies are employed. The model presented gives some direction to potential strategies for getting research into policy and practice in the health care sector in Nigeria and elsewhere.
AB - Background: Getting research into policy and practice (GRIPP) is a process of going from research evidence to decisions and action. To integrate research findings into the policy making process and to communicate research findings to policymakers is a key challenge world-wide. This paper reports the experiences of a research group in a Nigerian university when seeking to 'do' GRIPP, and the important features and challenges of this process within the African context. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with nine purposively selected policy makers in various organizations and six researchers from the universities and research institute in a Nigerian who had been involved in 15 selected joint studies/projects with Health Policy Research Group (HPRG). The interviews explored their understanding and experience of the methods and processes used by the HPRG to generate research questions and research results; their involvement in the process and whether the methods were perceived as effective in relation to influencing policy and practice and factors that influenced the uptake of research results. Results: The results are represented in a model with the four GRIPP strategies found: i) stakeholders' request for evidence to support the use of certain strategies or to scale up health interventions; ii) policymakers and stakeholders seeking evidence from researchers; iii) involving stakeholders in designing research objectives and throughout the research process; and iv) facilitating policy maker-researcher engagement in finding best ways of using research findings to influence policy and practice and to actively disseminate research findings to relevant stakeholders and policymakers. The challenges to research utilization in health policy found were to address the capacity of policy makers to demand and to uptake research, the communication gap between researchers, donors and policymakers, the management of the political process of GRIPP, the lack of willingness of some policy makers to use research, the limited research funding and the resistance to change. Conclusions: Country based Health Policy and Systems Research groups can influence domestic policy makers if appropriate strategies are employed. The model presented gives some direction to potential strategies for getting research into policy and practice in the health care sector in Nigeria and elsewhere.
KW - Getting research into policy and practice
KW - Nigeria
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84994319038&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12992-016-0209-1
DO - 10.1186/s12992-016-0209-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 27809862
AN - SCOPUS:84994319038
SN - 1744-8603
VL - 12
JO - Globalization and Health
JF - Globalization and Health
IS - 1
M1 - 67
ER -