Balancing realist review outputs with the needs of policymakers and practitioners
Issued Date
2025-01-01
Resource Type
ISSN
02681080
eISSN
14602237
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85215091962
Journal Title
Health Policy and Planning
Volume
40
Issue
1
Start Page
97
End Page
104
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Health Policy and Planning Vol.40 No.1 (2025) , 97-104
Suggested Citation
Mukumbang F.C., Klingberg S., Adhikari B. Balancing realist review outputs with the needs of policymakers and practitioners. Health Policy and Planning Vol.40 No.1 (2025) , 97-104. 104. doi:10.1093/heapol/czae097 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/102924
Title
Balancing realist review outputs with the needs of policymakers and practitioners
Author(s)
Corresponding Author(s)
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
A realist review is a theory-driven approach to synthesizing evidence based on the realist philosophy of science. Realist reviews are conducted to provide the policy and practice community with a rich, detailed and practical understanding of complex social interventions that will likely be of much more use to them when planning and implementing programmes. Robust realist reviews must balance philosophical engagement, methodological rigour and relevance to practice. Nevertheless, they have been criticized for being more philosophically inclined and less methodologically robust, with findings that have little implication for practice. Using the philosophy/epistemology➔ methodology➔ theory➔ practice concept flow, we report how we balanced philosophical principles and practical insights in a recently conducted realist review on participatory practices that impact the benefits of non-communicable disease research and interventions in low- and middle-income countries. If realist reviews are not comprehensible enough for these practitioners, their utility and relevance may suffer from being limited to a specialist cohort of academics. We propose that realist review findings and outputs must be framed and communicated to meaningfully engage practitioners without undertaking translational efforts.