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Principal Investigator

Objective

It is important to make the Evidence-Based Policy Making (EBPM) cycle more functional in 'child policy' in the area of child health and development. However, there are gaps between stakeholders and various challenges at each step of EBPM. In this project, while focusing on the effective utilisation of 'cross boarder talents' in the area of child policy, we will (i) understand the inhibiting and promoting factors in the overall EBPM cycle, (ii) examine interventions to address the gap between researchers and policy makers(technical officers), (iii) understand the actual situation and needs of 'cross boarder talents' and develop, trial and evaluate support packages, and (iv) Examine interventions to bottlenecks in dissemination and implementation of the EBPM cycle. Through this project, the aim is not only to promote the EBPM cycle in Japan's child policy, but also to gain perspective for application and development in other areas.

Outline

The declining birthrate and aging population have become a national crisis, and 'child policy' to support children and child rearing has become an important policy area for Japan. The structure of children's diseases is changing and the issues surrounding them are becoming more complex. Thus area of child policy has reached a dynamic turning point in the social system, with the enactment of the Basic Law for Child and Maternal Health and Child Development in 2018 and the establishment of "Ministry for Child and Family" in 2023. The principal investigator, Sensaki, joined the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) because she felt the importance of working on social aspects such as policy, which is upstream of the problem, while working in hospital as a paediatrician, but she was acutely aware of the difficulty of realising EBPM. Why is EBPM becoming dysfunctional? There is the evidence and challenges required for each of the steps shown in Figure 1 are considered to be present. These challenges are not just in the area of 'child policy', but arise widely in other health areas as well.

The EBPM cycle and its challenges (see Figure 1): The EBPM cycle mainly consists of the following steps: (i) identification of the current situation and challenges, (ii) agenda setting, (iii) policy making, (iv) consensus building, (v) policy implementation and (vi) service provision to beneficiaries, with various challenges at each step and between the steps. There are various challenges in each step and in between the steps. For example, the problem-setting by researchers does not always match the needs of the field or the policy side, even scientifically advanced evidence does not always lead to policy-making, and even when policy decisions are made, there are issues in implementation by local government and service providers, which is regional disparities and sustainability.

So how should we approach the following four research questions as bottlenecks with effective intervention, taking a bird's-eye view of the entire EBPM cycle? In particular, we will focus on the gap between 'researchers' and 'policy makers (technical officers)' and, as a methodology, the intervention by bridging with 'cross boarder talents' as the main research question.

1: Understanding the overall picture of the ideal EBPM cycle and identification of promoting and inhibiting factors.
2: Development of interventions to address the gap between researchers and policy makers(technical officers).
3: Identification of the actual situation and needs of 'cross boarder talents' and development, implementation and evaluation of support packages.
Research question
4: Investigation of intervention measures for bottlenecks in implementations of EBPM cycle (in municipalities and service providers).