What constitutes a receptive environment for research active public health teams in local authorities in England? Directors of Public Health and Consultants of Public Health’s experience of interventions to encourage local authorities to become more research active.
Focus of Study
This study will provide an additional strand to the mixed methods research project exploring the influence of embedded researchers (in the form of Clinical Research Network - Public Health Research Practitioners (CRN–PRPs)). Alongside the research practitioner roles, Directors of Public Health and Consultants in Public Health have been awarded protected research time. This study looks to draw on the insights and experiences of Directors of Public Health, Consultants of Public Health, and key collaborators to understand how the protected research time and, where relevant, the research practitioner roles were received by public health teams, and the ways in which they contributed to reshaping local authorities’ organisational processes and practices to become more research active.
Aims and objectives
The study aims to develop understanding of the wider contextual factors which affect local authorities’ receptiveness and capacity to become more research active in response to the intervention(s). In turn, it seeks to evaluate the influence that the interventions have on organisational processes around research production and use.
Main Research Questions:
1) What are the aims of awarding Consultants of Public Health and Directors of Public Health protected research time? Who has autonomy in defining the aims?
2) How do Directors of Public Health and Consultants in Public Health experience interventions aiming to make their organisation more research active? How do key collaborators experience their involvement with these interventions?
3) How do environmental and organisational factors make local authority public health teams (un)receptive to these interventions?
4) How have the interventions reshaped the local authorities’ organisational processes, values and cultures around research production and use?
5) What learning can be captured to inform future research-policy interventions to encourage research active public health teams?
Research design
Qualitative methods, in the form of semi-structured interviews and focus groups conducted online. Participants in the study will include:
• Directors of Public Health and Consultants in Public Health who have been awarded protected research time by NIHR (estimated 7 - 10).
• Key collaborators identified by Directors of Public Health and Consultants in Public