CLEARINGHOUSES TARGETED AT IMPROVING USE OF RESEARCH EVIDENCE IN POLICYMAKING: RATIONALE, USER TESTING AND USAGE

Abstract

A clarion call for the establishment of clearinghouses as a strategy to promote evidence-informed health policymaking in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) has gained momentum over the past two decades. Health Systems Evidence (HSE) and the Evidence-Informed Policy Network Virtual Health Library (EVIPNet VHL) are two cases of clearinghouses that were set up to provide research syntheses about the governance, financial, and delivery arrangements of health systems, and implementation strategies within them. Despite their promise as a knowledge translation strategy, little is known about the key features and intended effects of clearinghouses. Additionally, gaps remain about policymakers’ and stakeholders’ views about and experiences with the two clearinghouses, and about their usage and the determinants of their usage. This thesis addresses these knowledge gaps via three studies which present original scientific contributions to knowledge on this topic. The three chapters present: 1) a theoretical framework, developed using a systematic review approach, that outlines the key features and intended effects of a clearinghouse in facilitating access to and use of research evidence; 2) a qualitative approach to assess policymakers’ and stakeholders’ views about and experiences with HSE and the EVIPNet VHL in Uganda and Zambia; and 3) a mixed method approach to analyze usage and the determinants of usage of HSE and the EVIPNet VHL in the African region. In doing so, the chapters make theoretical, methodological, and substantive contributions to the field of health services and health systems research. They provide insights about clearinghouses and the necessity of health information literacy as a strategy to enhance the utilization of research evidence at the NGO, service, and government levels, for the purposes of informing advocacy as well as managerial, and programmatic decision-making and public policymaking in the health and social care sectors, and thereby contribute towards strengthening health systems in LMICs.