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Redefining Policy Making Taking Action to Influence Policy Policy for Rural Women
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The Process is the Product: Redefining Policy Making
Speaking about the dissemination and policy impact of women’s health research, Sandra Bentley, co-chair of the Maritime Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health steering committee and senior policy advisor for the Interministerial Women’s Secretariat of PEI, says, “Essentially, the process is a significant part of the product.” The quality of research partnerships, for example, influences the quality, relevance and impact of the research. Also critical are the ways in which capacity is built in the community and the Centre, and the ways research findings are disseminated. This emphasis on process is particularly important in areas that have traditionally been understudied. This article highlights three of the Centre’s mechanisms to widen the scope of the health policy dialogue, enabling new stakeholders to participate. These initiatives create understanding and momentum and represent investments in health policy knowledge. The first mechanism is a new partnership with researchers who are indigenous to a community that is usually neglected in research, and whose members have less access to health services. The second is a public platform to animate a women’s health research agenda and disseminate research findings. Third, a permanent academic research chair on women’s health and the environment is described. Black Women’s Health Network The Black community of Nova Scotia is one of the most vulnerable and high risk populations in the Atlantic region, yet it is routinely excluded from mainstream health research. In order to foster links, new health research and research partnerships with this community, the Centre invited Black researchers to speak at a lunchtime discussion series on Black women’s health. The series led to the formation of the Black Women’s Health Research Network, an autonomous network of researchers and volunteers from academic, community, public policy and clinical agencies. This group has entered into a partnership with the Centre that has resulted in a research project to examine the current state of knowledge about the health of Black Nova Scotian women and families. In March 2001, 100 policy makers, researchers and community members attended a workshop to discuss the preliminary findings. Recommendations of the study included:
The way in which this research was initiated, funded and carried out potentially widens the scope of policy making. For example, this project wouldn’t have been possible if the Maritime Centre of Excellence had used the standard competitive peer review process as the sole basis for deciding about funding research, and leaders from the Black community would not have become stakeholders as a result. Leaders have supported both the research partnership and the research project because they build capacity and networking within the community, as well as generate new knowledge about the health of community members. Policy Forum on Women’s Health and Well-being Creating new means to disseminate the findings of research projects may also change the shape of the policy making process. Part of the platform to disseminate the findings of Centre-funded research projects has been a day-long forum held in 1999 and 2000 in each of the four Atlantic provinces. Academic researchers, policy makers, community organizations and women’s health activists were invited to attend panel presentations on the research conducted in their province. One-to-one meetings with policy makers (deputy ministers and senior regional health council officials) created another opportunity for Centre staff to give briefings on Centre work, present research findings and distribute copies of Centre publications. Lesley Poirier, former Research Coordinator at the Maritime Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, says, “As well as communicating new knowledge, it’s important to point out that the Centre is promoting a new and very specific kind of agenda for women’s health research. That is, communitybased, applied rather than clinical, and collaborative.” During the 2000 Policy Fora, the Centre inaugurated the annual Leadership Award in Women’s Health in Atlantic Canada, an event that honoured 20 women and groups who have made a difference to women’s health in their communities. The award ceremonies captured considerable media attention in each of the capital cities where they were held. The Women’s Health Leadership Awards make women’s health research and women’s health community work visible to the public and to policy makers. Apart from providing a stage upon which to animate this work, the Award recognizes, validates and nurtures the community of women’s health researchers. Elizabeth May Chair in Women’s Health and the Environment The Elizabeth May Chair in Women’s Health and the Environment at Dalhousie University provides a new, permanent entity for women’s health research and a new process for research uptake. The result of two anonymous donations to the Centre totaling $1.6 million, the mandate of the position is to teach, do research, promote debate and ensure that research results become integrated into public policy in the areas of women’s health and the environment. The primary appointment is in the Faculty of Health Professions at Dalhousie University, but the appointee works directly out of the Centre, fostering another research partnership. Elizabeth May, Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada, was the first chair holder in 1999 and 2000. Sharon Batt has been awarded the chair for the upcoming term. She is currently completing a two-year appointment as the Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University where she taught and conducted research in women’s health. A writer and community activist, her work promoting research and policies to prevent breast cancer through healthy environments is widely recognized. Her book, Patient No More: the Politics of Breast Cancer (Gynergy Books, 1994), has won international acclaim. How do we assess the impact of the three mechanisms described here? New networks of researchers and new research from diverse communities, more stakeholders, including community leaders, lively media coverage of women’s health issues where before there was next-to-none, and a growing body of new knowledge about the health of women who have previously been ignored—taken together, this is impact. Atlantic Centre of Excellence
for Women’s Health |
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