University of Calgary Reports Findings in Managed Care (Policy diffusion theory, evidence-informed public health, and public health political science: a scoping review): Managed Care

2023 APR 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Managed Care is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating in Calgary, Canada, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Our aim was to synthesize published scholarship that applies policy diffusion-a theory of the policy process that considers the interdependence of government-level public health policy choices. We paid particular attention to the role of scientific evidence in the diffusion process, and to identifying challenges and gaps towards strengthening the intersection of public health, public policy, and political science.”

Financial support for this research came from Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the University of Calgary, “We systematically searched 17 electronic academic databases. We included English-language, peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2021. For each article, we extracted the following information: public health policy domain, geographic setting, diffusion directions and mechanisms, the role of scientific evidence in the diffusion process, and author research discipline. We identified 39 peer-reviewed, primary research articles. Anti-smoking and tobacco control policies in the United States (n = 9/39) were the most common policy domain and geographic context examined; comparatively fewer studies examined policy diffusion in the Canadian context (n = 4/39). In terms of how policies diffuse, we found evidence of five diffusion mechanisms (learning, emulation, competition, coercion, and social contagion), which could moreover be conditional on internal government characteristics. The role of scientific evidence in the diffusion process was unclear, as only five articles discussed this. Policy diffusion theory was primarily used by public policy and political science scholars (n = 19/39), with comparatively fewer interdisciplinary authorship teams (n = 6/39). Policy diffusion theory provides important insights into the intergovernmental factors that influence public health policy decisions, thus helping to expand our conceptualization of evidence-informed public health.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Despite this, policy diffusion research in the Canadian public health context is limited.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Policy diffusion theory, evidence-informed public health, and public health political science: a scoping review. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2023. Canadian Journal of Public Health can be contacted at: Springer Int Publ Ag, Gewerbestrasse 11, Cham, Ch-6330, Switzerland.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Katrina Fundytus, Dept. of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. Additional authors for this research include Cristina Santamaria-Plaza and Lindsay McLaren.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-023-00752-x. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher of the Canadian Journal of Public Health can be contacted at: Springer Int Publ Ag, Gewerbestrasse 11, Cham, Ch-6330, Switzerland.

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