Does health intervention research have real world policy and practice impacts: Tool (HARPS, 2015)

Health intervention research, in particular, which uses scientific methods to produce knowledge about treatments, services, programs, or strategies that aim to protect, promote, or improve health, is assumed to hold immediate promise for influencing and improving future policy and practice. Research funding submissions require applicants to predict the practical benefits that might flow from their planned studies. However, a large proportion of funded research fails to translate into real world solutions.

In this paper, the authors build on the existing literature to propose an expanded ‘impact assessment’ framework, and apply a model which builds on current best practice to 5 years (2003–2007) of intervention research funded by Australia’s peak health and medical research funding agency, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

Their primary aims were to i) pilot a modified impact assessment process and ii) determine what proportion of intervention projects had any demonstrable impact on subsequent policy or practice in ‘real world’ settings after the research undertaken had concluded and to group these projects according to the magnitude their impacts.