Communicating health research (43) Q1. What do we mean by Effective communication of health research? (11) How do we measure it? (4)

18 September, 2022

Please allow me to share my ideas concerning "Effective communication of health research to policymakers".

Effective communication of health research to policymakers implies the reach of clear, concise, credible, feasible, and understandable investigator-proposed solutions/research recommendations in different forms in combination in a timely manner through multiple communication channels and multiple platforms during dissemination. Apparently, it is not a far cry from reality.

Apart from the dissemination efforts targeting policymakers at various levels after completion of research, enablers of effective communication of health research should also include initial advocacy about the research project to policymakers and other stakeholders. This will facilitate to attain more than tangible and intangible benefits.

I would like to propose indicators to measure the effectiveness inclusive of: awareness, interest, understanding, gaining trust towards research evidence, degree of meeting the expectations/needs/preferences, able to integrate with political and other commitments, timely application and visibility of potential health impact. These process and outcome indicators can be measured by ranking as low, medium and high. Frankly speaking in resource constrained settings compared to affluent societies, impact in terms of regulations, changing implementation guidelines in public health and clinical dimensions and societal changes will take time depending on donors and other support.

Regards,

Khin Thet Wai

HIFA profile: Khin Thet Wai is a former Director at the Department of Medical Research, Myanmar. She is a medical doctor and holds the Master's degree in Public Health from Institute of Medicine, Yangon and has a second Master's degree conferred by the Institute forfor Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, Thailand. She is a dedicated public health researcher specializing Epidemiology and Health Policy and Systems Research. https://www.hifa.org/support/members/khin-thet khinthetwaidmr AT gmail.com