PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

#### Background Worldwide, there is a growing realization of the urgent need to strengthen evidence-informed policy-making (EIP) to improve health systems and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In response, new knowledge translation (KT) initiatives and networks have been set up to facilitate and scale up research use in policy processes. Despite these investments, there is a paucity of evidence on evaluating, sustaining, and institutionalizing these efforts at the research-to-policy nexus. This dissertation aims to bridge this gap and provide a fuller understanding of and evidence-informed guidance on monitoring and evaluating KT initiatives and systematically institutionalizing KT for it to become a routine part of health policy-making. #### Methods Various methodological approaches were used for this dissertation to address the above-mentioned evidence gap. Four separate but thematically interlinked and complementary studies were conducted, taking the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Evidence-informed Policy Network (EVIPNet), in the European Region as a study subject. A first scoping review was undertaken to identify, synthesize, and assess high-quality indicators to evaluate KT infrastructures and capacity-building activities. Building on the first study, a mixed-methods approach was applied over four phases to develop a comprehensive KT monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework in a second manuscript. An additional mixed-methods study, published in the third manuscript, consisted of piloting the preliminary M&E framework by conducting a formative evaluation of a significant KT initiative, EVIPNet in the WHO European Region. Finally, the fourth study – a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) – was conducted. This combined a systematic approach with an iterative analysis of the literature to develop an explanatory framework for institutionalizing EIP. #### Results Based on a list of methods and evidence-based KT indicators that were identified as part of this thesis, a comprehensive M&E framework was developed, presenting a broad theory of change, logic models, and 100 output and outcome indicators at the WHO EVIPNet Secretariat level and 52 indicators at the EVIPNet country team level to measure KT performance. Piloting this framework through a formative evaluation led to early-stage network learnings related to three strategic KT domains: capacity, structure, and culture. Recognizing the need to further strengthen evidence-to-policy institutionalization processes both in theory and practice, two additional, complementary frameworks on EIP institutionalization were developed, one outlining the domains for sustaining and routinizing research use in policy, the other elaborating on the process and phases of institutionalization, from precipitating events to re- and de- institutionalization. #### Discussion and conclusion The unique studies part of this dissertation build on each other and make substantive conceptual–theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to the discipline of KT. This dissertation advances our understanding of and provides guidance on promoting, assessing the performance of, and sustaining KT initiatives. In terms of broader impact, the findings have the potential to shape international normative work, change country policy processes, and inform new research activities.