Organisational factors that facilitate research use in public health policy-making: a scoping review

Abstract

Background: Although important syntheses and theoretical works exist in relation to understanding the organisational factors that facilitate research use, these contributions differ in their scope and object of study as well as their theoretical underpinnings. Therefore, from an exploratory angle, it may be useful to map out the current literature on organisational factors of research use in public health policy-making when revisiting existing theories and frameworks to gain further theoretical insights.

Methods: Herein, a scoping review technique and thematic content analysis were used to bring together findings from both synthesised and empirical studies of different types to map out the organisational factors that facilitate research use in public health policy-making.

Results: A total of 14 reviews and 40 empirical studies were included in the analysis. These were thematically coded and the intra-organisational factors reported as enabling research use were examined. Five main categories of organisational factors that advance research use in policy organisations - (1) individual factors, (2) the management of research integration, (3) organisational systems and infrastructures of research use, (4) institutional structures and rules for policy-making, and (5) organisational characteristics - were derived as well as 18 subcategories and a total of 64 specific factors, where 27 factors were well supported by research.

Conclusions: Using a scoping review methodology, the intra-organisational factors influencing research use in policy-making (including individual factors) were systematically mapped and the theories applied in this area of research were assessed. The review findings confirm the importance of an intra-organisational perspective when exploring research use, showing that many organisational factors are critical facilitators of research use but also that many factors and mechanisms are understudied. The synthesis shows a lack of studies on politicians and the need for more theoretically founded research. Despite increased efforts to update the existing evidential and theoretical basis of research use, we still need frameworks that combine different approaches and theories to help us grasp the complex organisational mechanisms that facilitate research use in policy settings.

Keywords: Research utilisation; evidence-based policy; health policy; individual research capacity; knowledge translation; organisational research capacity; organisational research use; scoping study.

Fig. 1

Review search strategy. Flow chart of the search strategy and the selection process for identifying studies reporting or synthesising empirical findings on organisational factors facilitating research use in public health policy-making

Fig. 2

Study design characteristics and targeted policy area of included study. The graph shows the variation of the targeted policy areas for study design characteristic. Most noticeably is the large representation of studies conducted in the population health area, especially case studies, and the scares contribution of studies coming from the built environment and mental health areas

Fig. 3

Concept map of organisational factors that facilitate research use including highly supported factors. The overall categories are displayed as squares, subcategories as squares with soft edges, and the detailed factors are displayed as circles. The sizes of the circles are without importance. The circles with bold text and thick boundaries present the factors, which are supported by seven or more studies including at least one review. The figure shows that 27 out of 64 identified factors are highly supported by research, primarily within the overall categories of individual factors, management of research integration and organisational systems and infrastructure for research use