Prevention research resources for health professionals
Broken links? Can't find what you want? Please send feedback to cphce@unsw.edu.au
This webpage aims to support staff of NSW Health and others involved in commissioning, conducting or using the results of health research or evaluation. We have chosen topics that are important for prevention research in primary and public health. For each topic, we have identified free online resources that are suitable for people in the field. If there is a free resource that you have found useful and would like to share, please let us know at cphce@unsw.edu.au.
The glossary of concepts underpinning evidence-based public health helps you to understand the terminology used in evaluation and research texts.
Sections (click on a heading to go to that section):
- What are health promotion and prevention?
- What is primary health care?
- Prevention and health promotion in primary health care
- Research and evaluation step-by-step complete guides
- Research and evaluation frameworks and approaches
- Working with others
- Research and evaluation specific methods
- Governance: ethics and data
- Health concepts and their measurement: social determinants, health literacy, patient activation, SDGs
- Knowledge translation
1 What are health promotion and prevention?
This section provides an overview of prevention and health promotion that will be useful in determining the need, scope and focus of research and how the results can be used.
- The World Health Organization webpage for health promotion, including definitions and fact sheets
- Theory at a Glance: describes influential theories of health-related behaviors, processes of shaping behavior, and the effects of community and environmental factors on behavior.
- A seminal book on health promotion foundations
2 What is primary health care?
- A description of the Primary Health Care system in Australia by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- WHO definitions of primary health care
- The drive towards universal health cover (UHC)
- The 10 building blocks of primary care identifies and describes the essential elements of primary care to facilitate high performance
- WHO description of integrated people-centred health services i.e. putting people and communities, not diseases, at the centre of health systems, and empowering people to take charge of their own health rather than being passive recipients of services.
3 Prevention and health promotion in primary health care
PHC provides opportunities for prevention and health promotion
- A paper by Prof Mark Harris on Opportunities for prevention and health promotion in primary health care
- The RACGP Guidelines for preventive activities in general practice (includes the Red Book and the Green Book)
- National strategic framework for chronic conditions (Australia). A greater emphasis on preventative measures is outlined to reduce the chronic disease burden
4 Research and evaluation training and guides
CPHCE and the School of Population Health developed an online course for GP registrars to provide an introduction to research in PHC. This course is freely accessible to anyone wanting to learn about doing research in PHC. To access the course, click here.
Other online research manuals, training and guides:
Frameworks for evaluation help to plan the evaluation:
- Practical Research and Evaluation : A Start-to-Finish Guide for Practitioners This book is a starter ‘DIY’ text for practitioners who are looking to conduct evaluation studies and research as part of their own professional practice.
- Doing Practitioner Research ocuses on helping practitioners conduct research in their own organisations, and attention is given to the best methods for doing this effectively and sensitively.
- Managers guide to evaluation This is an interactive guide for people who are managing an evaluation. The guide can be used for managing an evaluation that is conducted by an external evaluator or evaluation team, an internal team, or by a combination of these.
- NSW Government guide to commissioning research This guide to commissioning evaluation services complements the NSW Government Program Evaluation Guidelines and Toolkit. It promotes a proactive, planned and structured approach to commissioning evaluations, including information on when and how to commission an evaluation and how to make the most of the results
- NSW Government Evaluation Toolkit takes you through seven steps for planning and implementing a program evaluation project.
- Better Evaluation Developing Monitoring and Evaluation Frameworks + FRAMEWORK TEMPLATE
- Vic Health Evaluation framework for health promotion and disease prevention programs
Frameworks for evaluation help to plan the evaluation:
- Evaluation frameworks
- RE-AIM website & seminal paper
- Developmental evaluation: A Primer and A Practitioner’s Guide to Developmental Evaluation
- Realist evaluation: An introduction
- Logic models for planning and evaluation: UWEx website; NSW Health Guide; Kellogg Foundation Guide
- Qualitative research methods in program evaluation This document from the US Department of Health & Human Services was written for staff overseeing government-funded program evaluations that include the collection and analysis of qualitative data.
Working collaboratively with consumers and across institutions can help with the appropriateness of methods and uptake of results.
- Collaborative partnerships – involving all stakeholders.
- Consumer engagement: The Involving People in Research website has resources for researchers to support consumer and community involvement in health research, including a practical guide book.
- ACI Guide to Build Co‑design Capability
- VicHealth The partnerships analysis tool This resource is for organisations entering into or working in a partnership to assess, monitor and maximise its ongoing effectiveness.
- Health Promotion International special issue: Partnership and Intersectoral Action for Health This special issue highlights the state of the art in health promotion and collaboration
Policy research and development:
- WHO Health in all policies training manual
- Nine questions to guide development and implementation of Health in All Policies
- Health policy – why research it and how: health political science
Systematic reviews:
- Description of different types of systematic review and step-by-step guide to conducting and writing a systematic review
- Rapid Review Guidebook The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools provides guidance on the process of conducting rapid reviews to use evidence to inform policy and program decision making.
Health Impact Assessment (HIA):
Ethics:
- NHMRC guidelines
- The AH&MRC Ethics Committee for research proposals affecting the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people and communities in NSW
- Ethical approval for research in the NSW health system - the REGIS system
Data:
- Organising data storage and sharing: Australian National Data Service (ANDS) guides
9 Health concepts and their measurement
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Social determinants of health (SDOH)
- What are the SDOH and what does it mean for clinicians?
- Guidance on measurement of the social determinants of health is provided by NACCHO
Sustainable development goals (SDGs):
Health literacy:
- Health literacy: The Solid Facts (WHO)
- How do you measure it? The Health Literacy Tool Shed
- Health literacy - a guide from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Patient activation:
- Patient activation (PA) describes the knowledge, skills and confidence a person has in managing their own health and care
- The Patient Activation Measure (PAM) is a validated licenced tool to measure patients’ skills, knowledge and confidence to manage their long-term conditions
- Information from the NHS about PA and the PAM is here
Urban Health:
