title: Experiences and attitudes towards evidence-informed policy-making among research and policy stakeholders in the Canadian agri-food public health sector.
abstract: Policy-makers working at the interface of agri-food and public health often deal with complex and cross-cutting issues that have broad health impacts and socio-economic implications. They have a responsibility to ensure that policy-making based on these issues is accountable and informed by the best available scientific evidence. We conducted a qualitative descriptive study of agri-food public health policy-makers and research and policy analysts in Ontario, Canada, to understand their perspectives on how the policy-making process is currently informed by scientific evidence and how to facilitate this process. Five focus groups of 3-7 participants and five-one-to-one interviews were held in 2012 with participants from federal and provincial government departments and industry organizations in the agri-food public health sector. We conducted a thematic analysis of the focus group and interview transcripts to identify overarching themes. Participants indicated that the following six key principles are necessary to enable and demonstrate evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM) in this sector: (i) establish and clarify the policy objectives and context; (ii) support policy-making with credible scientific evidence from different sources; (iii) integrate scientific evidence with other diverse policy inputs (e.g. economics, local applicability and stakeholder interests); (iv) ensure that scientific evidence is communicated by research and policy stakeholders in relevant and user-friendly formats; (V) create and foster interdisciplinary relationships and networks across research and policy communities; and (VI) enhance organizational capacity and individual skills for EIPM. Ongoing and planned efforts in these areas, a supportive culture, and additional education and training in both research and policy realms are important to facilitate evidence-informed policy-making in this sector. Future research should explore these findings further in other countries and contexts.
authors: Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses, Public Health Agency of Canada, Guelph, ON, Canada; Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Young
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Gropp
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Pintar
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Waddell
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Marshall
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Thomas
authors: S A
authors: SA
authors: McEwen
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Rajić
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003625:Data Collection; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario; D011050:Policy Making; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods*; D011640:Public Policy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical
keywords: Agri-food public health; evidence-informed policy-making; knowledge transfer and exchange; qualitative research