Your browser doesn't support javascript.
loading
Use of post-graduate students' research in evidence informed health policies: a case study of Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Uganda.
Obuku, E A; Sewankambo, N K; Mafigiri, D K; Sengooba, F; Karamagi, C; Lavis, J N.
Afiliación
  • Obuku EA; Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda. ekwaro@gmail.com.
  • Sewankambo NK; Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom. ekwaro@gmail.com.
  • Mafigiri DK; Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
  • Sengooba F; Center for Social Science Research on AIDS, Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States of America.
  • Karamagi C; Department of Social Work and Social Administration, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
  • Lavis JN; Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Health Res Policy Syst ; 16(1): 77, 2018 Aug 03.
Article en En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30075732
BACKGROUND: World over, stakeholders are increasingly concerned about making research useful in public policy-making. However, there are hardly any reports linking production of research by students at institutions of higher learning to its application in society. We assessed whether and how post-graduate students' research was used in evidence-informed health policies. METHODS: This is a multiple case study of master's students' dissertations at Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) produced between 1996 and 2010. In a structured review, we applied a theoretical framework of 'research use' and used content analysis to map how research was used in public policy documents. We categorised content of these documents according to the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDG). We defined a case of 'use' as citation of research products from a master's student's dissertation in a public policy-related document. RESULTS: We found 22 cases of research use in policy-related documents (0.5%) out of a total 4230 citations from 16 of 1172 total dissertations (1.4%). Additionally, research was mostly cited in primary studies (95.4%), systematic reviews (3%), narrative reviews (0.8%) and cost-effectiveness analyses (0.2%). Research was predominantly used instrumentally, to either frame the problem (burden of disease or health condition) or select an intervention (treatment or diagnostic option) and rarely symbolically to justify strategies already selected. The bulk of the cases of research use addressed child health (MDG 4), focusing on infectious diseases (MDG 6), mainly in international clinical or public health guidelines, working papers, a consensus statement and a global report. We distilled 'synergistic relationships' among organisations or interest groups, 'globalisation of local evidence', 'trade-offs' in the use of research and use of 'negative results' from the documents and text content. CONCLUSIONS: Research from dissertations of post-graduate students at MakCHS is used in evidence-informed health policies, particularly for infectious diseases in child health. Further, we have delineated pathways of research use in the global arena and highlighted the importance of 'negative results' from dissertations of post-graduate students at MakCHS.
Asunto(s)
Palabras clave

Texto completo: 1 Colección: 01-internacional Banco de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Formulación de Políticas / Estudiantes / Universidades / Medicina Basada en la Evidencia / Investigación Biomédica / Política de Salud Tipo de estudio: Guideline Límite: Child / Humans País/Región como asunto: Africa Idioma: En Revista: Health Res Policy Syst Año: 2018 Tipo del documento: Article País de afiliación: Uganda

Texto completo: 1 Colección: 01-internacional Banco de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Formulación de Políticas / Estudiantes / Universidades / Medicina Basada en la Evidencia / Investigación Biomédica / Política de Salud Tipo de estudio: Guideline Límite: Child / Humans País/Región como asunto: Africa Idioma: En Revista: Health Res Policy Syst Año: 2018 Tipo del documento: Article País de afiliación: Uganda