title: Can frameworks inform knowledge about health policy processes? Reviewing health policy papers on agenda setting and testing them against a specific priority-setting framework.
abstract: This article systematically reviews a set of health policy papers on agenda setting and tests them against a specific priority-setting framework. The article applies the Shiffman and Smith framework in extracting and synthesizing data from an existing set of papers, purposively identified for their relevance and systematically reviewed. Its primary aim is to assess how far the component parts of the framework help to identify the factors that influence the agenda setting stage of the policy process at global and national levels. It seeks to advance the field and inform the development of theory in health policy by examining the extent to which the framework offers a useful approach for organizing and analysing data. Applying the framework retrospectively to the selected set of papers, it aims to explore influences on priority setting and to assess how far the framework might gain from further refinement or adaptation, if used prospectively. In pursuing its primary aim, the article also demonstrates how the approach of framework synthesis can be used in health policy analysis research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1 9SH, UK and Health Policy and Systems Division, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1 9SH, UK and Health Policy and Systems Division, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town gill.walt@lshtm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gill
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Walt
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1 9SH, UK and Health Policy and Systems Division, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1 9SH, UK and Health Policy and Systems Division, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town.
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gilson
mesh_terms: D014943:Global Health; D006291:Health Policy; D006292:Health Priorities; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011050:Policy Making; D011057:Politics; D036301:Qualitative Research
keywords: National and global agenda setting; policy analysis; policy framework; priority setting; qualitative synthesis