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Policy and Policy Research for Behavioural Medicine

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on the design of and research about policy interventions that positively alter health behaviour. This includes healthcare policies as well as intersectoral policies that influence health. It begins with a broad examination of what constitutes health policy, the process of making policy and the pertinence of health policy to behavioural medicine. Among health policies, it considers financial influences, service models and workforce policies and policies addressing social determinants of health. Insofar as policy research in relation to behavioural health is a relatively new and evolving field, the chapter focuses on policy research methods. It examines the questions policy research asks including policy content and design, analysis/evaluation and policy process. It also describes important methodologies, including participatory action research, impact evaluation, comparative and historical analysis, literature reviews, case studies, experimental and quasi-experimental methods, varied quantitative approaches and integration of mixed quantitative and qualitative approaches. It goes on to consider challenges facing policy research in behavioural medicine, including development of suitable theories, methodologies, the nature and role of evidence in informing policy and involving community and individual users in research. It closes with consideration of non-communicable or chronic diseases and health in all policies as important topics for policy research for behavioural medicine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, School of Public Health and Psychology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Vivian Lin & Bronwyn Carter

  2. School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, P.R. China

    Yan Guo

Authors
  1. Vivian Lin
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  2. Bronwyn Carter
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  3. Yan Guo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vivian Lin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Edwin B. Fisher

  2. Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA, USA

    Linda D. Cameron

  3. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Alan J. Christensen

  4. Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Ulrike Ehlert

  5. School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China

    Yan Guo

  6. Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Brian Oldenburg

  7. Departments of Medical Psychology, Academic Medical Center (AMC) and VU University Medical Center (VUMC), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Frank J. Snoek

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Lin, V., Carter, B., Guo, Y. (2018). Policy and Policy Research for Behavioural Medicine. In: Fisher, E., et al. Principles and Concepts of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-93826-4_25

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