People-centred science: strengthening the practice of health policy and systems research

Health Research Policy and Systems

Lucy Gilson³  Asha George²  Kabir Sheikh¹ 

[1] Public Health Foundation of India, ISID Campus, 4 Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070, India;Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, Suite E-8146, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA;Department Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Health Policy and Systems Division, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Health Economics and Systems Analysis Group, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa

关键词: Social construction;    Research practice;    Reflexivity;    People-centred health systems;    Knowledge translation;    Health systems research;    Health policy and systems research;    Dialogue;    Context;   

Others  :  802434
DOI  :  10.1186/1478-4505-12-19

 received in 2013-11-06, accepted in 2014-04-06,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Health policy and systems research (HPSR) is a transdisciplinary field of global importance, with its own emerging standards for creating, evaluating, and utilizing knowledge, and distinguished by a particular orientation towards influencing policy and wider action to strengthen health systems. In this commentary, we argue that the ability of the HPSR field to influence real world change hinges on its becoming more people-centred. We see people-centredness as recognizing the field of enquiry as one of social construction, requiring those conducting HPSR to locate their own position in the system, and conduct and publish research in a manner that foregrounds human agency attributes and values, and is acutely attentive to policy context. Change occurs at many layers of a health system, shaped by social, political, and economic forces, and brought about by different groups of people who make up the system, including service users and communities. The seeds of transformative practice in HPSR lie in amplifying the breadth and depth of dialogue across health system actors in the conduct of research – recognizing that these actors are all generators, sources, and users of knowledge about the system. While building such a dialogic practice, those conducting HPSR must strive to protect the autonomy and integrity of their ideas and actions, and also clearly explain their own positions and the value-basis of their work. We conclude with a set of questions that health policy and systems researchers may wish to consider in making their practice more people-centred, and hence more oriented toward real-world change.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Sheikh et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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