Examining Evaluation Methods for Health Equity Policies
2018
This article reviews diverse methods for evaluating public policies that address social determinants of health equity. Understanding approaches to evaluating public policies is essential in strengthening the evidence base that informs policy change. Examining 50 studies in the article, the authors find that most studies evaluating policies for health equity outcomes use observational research designs and regression techniques to analyze impact.
Furthermore, the studies reviewed primarily relied on secondary data, and nearly three out of every four studies credited changes in health measures to the policy design or policy change. The authors highlight a lack of high-quality data on health equity outcomes and limited cross-national comparisons as factors that continue hindering efforts to design evidence-informed policies. Although the number of studies that evaluate the impact of policies on health equity are increasing in number, scope, and complexity of methods, this area of inquiry requires even more attention going forward.
Examining Evaluation Methods for Health Equity Policies
Source:
Lee J, Schram A, Riley E et al. Addressing Health Equity Through Action on the Social Determinants of Health: A Global Review of Policy Outcome Evaluation Methods. International Journal of Health Policy and Management 2018. http://ijhpm.com/article_3459.html.