title: Does research through Structured Operational Research and Training (SORT IT) courses impact policy and practice?
abstract: METHODS
  Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT) courses are well known for their output, with nearly 90% of participants completing the course and publishing in scientific journals.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We assessed the impact of research papers on policy and practice that resulted from six SORT IT courses initiated between July 2012 and March 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study involving e-mail-based, self-administered questionnaires and telephone/skype/in-person responses from first and/or senior co-authors of course papers. A descriptive content analysis of the responses was performed and categorised into themes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 72 participants, 63 (88%) completed the course. Course output included 81 submitted papers, of which 76 (94%) were published. Of the 81 papers assessed, 45 (55%) contributed to a change in policy and/or practice: 29 contributed to government policy/practice change (20 at national, 4 at subnational and 5 at hospital level), 11 to non-government organisational policy change and 5 to reinforcing existing policy. The changes ranged from modifications of monitoring and evaluation tools, to redrafting of national guidelines, to scaling up existing policies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than half of the SORT IT course papers contributed to a change in policy and/or practice. Future assessments should include more robust and independent verification of the reported change(s) with all stakeholders.
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: A M V
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Shewade
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Tripathy
authors.affiliation: The Union, Paris, France.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guillerm
authors.affiliation: Medical Department, Operational Centre Brussels, Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF-Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tayler-Smith
authors.affiliation: The Union, Paris, France.
authors.forename: S Dar
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.affiliation: The Union, Paris, France.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bissell
authors.affiliation: Medical Department, Operational Centre Brussels, Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF-Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.affiliation: Medical Department, Operational Centre Brussels, Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF-Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zachariah
authors.affiliation: The Union, Paris, France ; London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Harries
keywords: Médecins Sans Frontières; The Union; WHO/TDR; operational research capacity building; policy and practice