Dear All,
FAO: Anyone involved in health inequalities research (apologies for cross-posting)
One of the frustrations often expressed by policymakers about the available evidence on health inequalities relates to a perceived lack of clarity and consensus amongst researchers about what kinds of policy responses would be most likely to reduce health inequalities. Informed by this, I am working with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh to explore what kinds of policy responses people involved with health inequalities research support, with a view to ascertaining where (if anywhere) consensus does seem to exist. This research has so far involved literature reviews, interviews, discussion groups and a lengthy survey of a sample of relevant researchers. The first stage of what was a lengthy survey asked these researchers to assess more than 100 policy proposals based on three different factors: (i) their expert opinion; (ii) their perception of the underlying evidence; and (iii) their sense of what it would be sensible for the health inequalities research community to support, taking into account the current economic, social and political context.
We have now compiled a list of the 20 most popular proposals and we are asking any interested researchers to complete a (far briefer!) second stage of the survey. This stage aims to rank the top 20 proposals according to which ones individuals involved in health inequalities research in the UK believe would be likely to have the biggest impact on reducing health inequalities at a population level (by relative and absolute measures).
The survey is open to anyone who is involved in research of relevance to health inequalities (i.e. you do not need to have completed the first stage to complete this stage). If you participate, you are allocated 100 points to distribute across the 20 policy proposals and you are asked to allocate these points according to which proposals you believe would have the most impact on reducing health inequalities at the population level. The survey is available here: http://www.surveyexpression.com/s/16138/healthinequality and will remain open until the end of Fri 14th June. It is being conducted on an anonymous basis.
A number of people working in policy and knowledge-broker settings have requested a summary of the results so there is clear policy interest in this exercise (at UK, devolved and local levels). The results are likely to be of more use if more health inequalities researchers participate and we would therefore really appreciate anyone involved in health inequalities research taking the time to participate (it shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes).
If you are interested in receiving an advance summary of the results, please email me and I will add you to the list. Likewise, if you have any questions or comments about the survey, please get in touch (contact details below).
Kind regards,
Kat
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Dr Katherine Smith
Lecturer - Global Public Health Unit
Social Policy, School of Social & Political Science
University of Edinburgh
Chrystal Macmillan Building (room 2.25)
15a George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LD
Tel: +44(0)131 651 1461
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web page: http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/social_policy/katherine_smith
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
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