Recognising the range of questions and methodological approaches in HPSR

1. Recognising the range of questions and methodological approaches in HPSR Lucy Gilson University of Cape Town and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

2. HPSR • The terrain • The diversity • Developing the field • Funding development of the field Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

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4. The terrain Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

5. HPSR seeks to understand • what health systems are & how they function • what needs to be done to strengthen them • how to influence policy agendas on health system development • how to develop and implement policies in ways that strengthen health systems Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

6. Goes beyond assessing & strengthening dedicated disease/condition specific programmes Travis et al. 2004 Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

7. Why include health policy focus? • Health policies are deliberate actions to strengthen health systems • Policies become effective • if there is enough political support AND • if they take root within health systems • Important to understand • the politics of influencing policy agendas • the organizational dynamics of health systems Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

8. Health policy • Not just an output of decision making but rather the entire process of decision-making • Encompasses the • formal documents, guidelines and rules • the decision-making practices of the full range of policy actors • that translate the documents into policy-as-experienced • Analysis focuses on people, processes, power Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

9. Health systems are dynamic & interconnected systems at whose heart are people ‘It is the multiple relationships and interactions among the building blocks ... that convert these blocks into a system’ De Savigny & Adams, 2009 Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

10. Scope of HPSR Global & National forces Health Systems: Hardware: Structure; Organisation; Technology; Resourcing Software: Actors & Relationships; Values; Norms Health Policy: Content & Instruments Actors, Power & Politics Institutions, Interests & Ideas Policy Change & Health System Development Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

11. The diversity of hpsr Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

12. Different perspectives Policy & Practice Epidemiology& Clinical Sciences HPSR Social Sciences Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

13. What are health systems? Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

14. What is the nature of the social reality being investigated? Positivism Relativism Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

15. Purposes of research & related questions • Normative/evaluative • Exploratory/ explanatory • What interventions work best? • What works for whom under what circumstances? • What are the social processes, including power relations, influencing actors’ understandings and experiences, and shaping impacts of interventions? Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

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17. Ensuring rigour Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

18. Developing the field Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

19. The value of combining perspectives Assessing household level impacts of user fees Survey data & statistical analysis: What is the impact of out of pocket payments on household poverty levels across countries? Qualitative, longitudinal household case studies: How do out of pocket payments combine with other influences over health seeking behavior to impact on the dynamics of household poverty? Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

20. Balance in questions asked • Past emphasis on normative/evaluative work and ‘generalizable’ answers • More work on exploratory & explanatory questions considering socio-cultural-political constructions of health systems (not just health) Sheikh et al. 2011 Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

21. In HPSR • Value the range of perspectives and questions • No hierarchy of method Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

22. Strengthening study design • Research focus identified from understanding of • local context AND relevant literature AND relevant theory • Clear, answerable research questions • Question-driven research strategy • Approaches to ensuring research rigour that are relevant to strategy chosen • Apply ethical principles Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

23. From RQ to research strategy (Yin 2009) Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

24. The value of mixed method studies • Deliberately combine strategies to expand the scope of studies, and deepen insights e.g: • initial small-scale intensive study to develop detailed understanding of a phenomenon, followed by larger-scale structured survey to generate more extensive understanding of the same phenomenon, using tool developed from the initial study. Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

25. Ensuring rigour in HPSR • An active process of questioning and checking during the inquiry   • A constant process of conceptualizing and reconceptualizing   • Crafting, trustworthy interpretive judgements   • Researcher reflexivity Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

26. Procedural steps in building trustworthiness • Prolonged engagement • Use of theory • Case selection: • Purposive selection to allow prior theory and initial assumptions to be tested or to examine ‘average’ or unusual experience • Sampling • Of people, places, times etc, to include as many as possible of the factors that might influence the behavior of those people central to the topic of focus • Gather views from wide range of respondents • Multiple methods (case studies) • Triangulation • Negative case analysis • Peer debriefing and support • Respondent validation (Member checking) • Clear report of methods of data collection and analysis (Audit trail) Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

27. FUNDING hpsr development Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

28. Critical elements • Long term, large-scale funding for research programmes • focused on particular contexts/systems & driven by questions; combining empirical, methodological & conceptual work; linked to educational programmes • Multi-disciplinary research teams, working collaboratively with other health system actors • Opportunities for cross-national work and learning Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

29. Working across capacity dimensions Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011

30. Thank you www.heu-uct.org.za Professor Lucy Gilson, 14 Dec 2011