Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #110623

Marcia D. Hills, RN, PhD and Simon Carroll. Centre for Community Health Promotion Research, University of Victoria, UH3, P.O. Box 3060, STN CSC, Victoria, BC V8W 3R4, Canada, 250-472-4102, mhills@uvic.ca

There is much debate about evidence-based policy and decision making and effectiveness. This presentation move beyond the debate between outcomes-based, quantitative approaches versus qualitative contextual process-oriented approaches, to a dialogue that considers the mechanisms that drive positive change across interventions. For policy-makers, providing accountability for spending decisions means that assessing the effectiveness of health promotion interventions are not just desirable, but mandatory. However, policy-makers are also aware that they must use assessment tools that are sensitive to the complex and inter-related social determinants of health and the equally complex nature of the causal relations between the processes and outcomes of health promotion interventions. The challenge is to develop rigorous evidence-based frameworks to measure effectiveness that are relevant to policy-makers, researchers and communities.

Critical to the proposed ‘realist synthesis' methodological approach is that ‘mechanisms' have generative or causal powers, which may or may not be triggered, depending on their interaction with particular contexts (Pawson, 2002b).

A project funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to assess the effectiveness of community interventions to promote health will be described to demonstrate the application of this methodology for policy relevant initiatives

Learning Objectives:

• To discuss a ‘realist synthesis’ approach to synthesizing evidence of effectiveness of community health promotion initiatives. The learner will be able to identify the three key concepts of the realist approach to synthesizing evidence.
• To address and have dialogue about the policy-relevance of such an approach in relation to its development and application within the Public Health Agency of Canada. The learners will be able to describe three advantages for policy makers in using this approach.

Keywords: Evidence Based Practice, Community-Based Health Promotion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.