Grant: Knowledge Synthesis Grant

<html> <body> <strong>Issue/Question</strong><strong> <br> </strong>This proposed knowledge synthesis aims to conduct a realist synthesis of the emerging literature on the initiation, implementation and sustainability of Health in All Policies (HiAP). Its objectives are to:extract from the literature the key governance mechanisms (eg. coordination, financial, accountability) that drive successful initiation, implementation and sustainability of HiAP<strong>;</strong> further develop a theoretical framework that identifies the key context-mechanism-outcome configurations that underlie HiAP initiation, implementation and sustainability; to provide policy and decision-makers guidance in relation to which mechanisms are more likely to work in what contexts and for which populations. It addresses a key gap in current knowledge that policy makers require to be filled in order to more sucessfully initiate, implement and sustain HiAP.<br> <br> <strong>Expertise</strong> <br>The research team is made up of academics and policy makers with extensive experience working together on HiAP and other health promotion initiatives. The team also has world leading experts in applying the realist synthesis approach to knowledge synthesis. The Principal Investigator (PI) is a leading figure in health promotion and an early innovator in applying the realist synthesis approach to health promotion topics. The academic co-applicants have extensive experience with health promotion, healthy public policy, intersectoral action and HiAP and several are experts in applying realist synthesis (Carroll, Shankardass, Jagosh). The knowledge user co-applicants are very senior civil servants at the provincial level in British Columbia (BC) (Sieben, Deputy Minister; Paton, Assistant Deputy Minister; Harrington, Assistant Deputy Minister). These team members represent three different government sectors (Child and Family Development; Population and Public Health; Social Development). Desjardins is the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre at the Public Health Agency of Canada and has worked closely with the PI on applying realist synthesis to community intervention to promote health. Dr. Fortune is the Regional Advisor on Social Determinants of Health at the Pan-American Health Organization and is an international expert on HiAP. Our research collaborators are two leading figures in BC, playing central roles in the development of the ActNow BC program (Mitic as a lead civil servant and Hogg as the former Minister of State for ActNow BC) and two leading international experts in HiAP (McQueen, Immediate Past President and VP Scientific Affairs, International Union for Health Promotion and Education; Davies, Executive Director Health Action Partnerships International, VP Conferences, IUHPE).<br> <br> <strong>Approach</strong> <br>The team will use an established approach to knowledge synthesis called realist synthesis^&#xfeff;18, which is an appropriate methodology for researching highly complex multi-layered policy interventions such as HiAP. It aims to discover the key causal mechanisms underlying dynamic change processes and asks how those mechanisms produce different outcomes depending on varying contextual circumstances.<br> <br> <strong>Results</strong> <br>We expect the results of this research to significantly enhance the knowledge base for policy decision-making in relation to HiAP in BC, Canada, the Americas and globally. Specifically, we expect to contribute significantly to the theoretical knowledge concerning which governance mechanisms enhance HiAP initiation, implementation and sustainability, for whom and in what circumstances.<br> <br> <br> <br> </body> </html>