title: The essential elements of health impact assessment and healthy public policy: a qualitative study of practitioner perspectives.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study uses critical realist methodology to identify the essential and contingent elements of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and Healthy Public Policy (HPP) as operationalised by practitioners.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data collection-qualitative interviews and a workshop were conducted with HIA and HPP practitioners working in differing contexts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Critical realist analytical questions identified the essential elements of HIA and HPP, the relationship between them, and the influences of public policy and other contingencies on the practice of both.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine interviews were conducted with purposively sampled participants working in Europe, USA and Australasia. 17 self-selected participants who worked in Europe, South East Asia and Australasia attended the workshop.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results clarify that HIA and HPP are different but mutually supporting. HIA has four characteristics: assessing a policy proposal to predict population health and equity impacts, a structured process for stakeholder dialogue, making recommendations and flexibly adapting to the policy process. HPP has four characteristics: concern with a broad definition of health, designing policy to improve people's health and reduce health inequities, intersectoral collaboration and influencing the policy cycle from inception to completion. HIA brings to HPP prediction about a policy's broad health impacts, and a structured space for intersectoral engagement, but is one approach within a broader suite of HPP activities. Five features of public policy and seven contingent influences on HIA and HPP practice are identified.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study clarifies the core attributes of HIA and HPP as separate yet overlapping while subject to wider influences. This provides the necessary common language to describe the application of both and avoid conflated expectations of either. The findings present the conceptual importance of public policy and the institutional role of public health as distinct and important influences on the practice of HIA and HPP.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Equity Training, Research and Evaluation, Part of the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, University of New South Wales, A Unit of Population Health, Sydney and Sydney South West Local Health Disctricts, NSW Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Patrick John
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Lynn Amanda
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sainsbury