Sandy Oliver
Biographic Data
| ID | 6154596 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sandy Oliver |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sandy |
| FAMILY NAME | Oliver |
| SIGNATURE | OLIVER S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9571-269X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 47 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 28 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Expert stakeholders on the role of qualitative research in World Health Organisation guidelines
Qualitative research findings are sometimes used in guideline development, but usually in an ad hoc manner. We sought to explore how qualitative research could contribute to guideline development, identify examples of qualitative research being used to inform guideline development, and gather suggestions for how qualitative research might be incorporated more systematically in guideline development. Using a topic guide, in 2022–24, we interviewed…
Shifting the centre of gravity in the global evidence ecosystem for health
BOX Global challenges in recent years, including humanitarian, climate-related and public health crises, have highlighted critical weaknesses in the application of evidence in decision-making, both locally and globally
Public Involvement in Complex Theorising
INTRODUCTION: There is increasing work towards drawing on theory, implementing co-production and accounting for complexity within the production of systematic reviews for public health. In this paper, we report on the process of co-producing a theory; in this case, a graphical articulation of theory in the form of a logic model, which describes how contextual factors influence children's health. METHODS: We undertook a series of three online co-p…
The What Works Centres
Leaders, researchers and practitioners from the UK 'What Works Network' share their insights on the successes, failures, and future of the What Works Centres, which have proven successful and popular across a number of policy settings.
The utilization of systematic review evidence in formulating India’s National Health Programme guidelines between 2007 and 2021
Evidence-informed policymaking integrates the best available evidence on programme outcomes to guide decisions at all stages of the policy process and its importance becomes more pronounced in resource-constrained settings. In this paper, we have reviewed the use of systematic review evidence in framing National Health Programme (NHP) guidelines in India. We searched official websites of the different NHPs, linked to the main website of the Minis…
Enhancing Public Health Systematic Reviews With Diagram Visualization
People and practice
Education research and educational practice
The relationship between education practice and education research has a long history. In modern times, education practice and its relation to education research has been central to debates about the nature and quality of education as an academic discipline in universities. This article reports an empirical study that investigated a new instantiation of the practice–theory debate: ‘close‐to‐practice’ research in education. The research sought to …
Narratives of community engagement
Producing policy relevant systematic reviews
This study employed insider research and reflective practice to investigate exchanges across the research-policy interface to understand the practice of producing policy-relevant systematic reviews. Interviewees came from 11 systematic reviews or review programmes which spanned four models of policy-relevant reviews and between them provided evidence for understanding policy problems, comparing policy options, or implementing policy decisions. No…
The effectiveness of community engagement in public health interventions for disadvantaged groups
Policy-relevant systematic reviews to strengthen health systems
Support for producing systematic reviews about health systems is less well developed than for those about clinical practice. From interviewing policy makers and systematic reviewers we identified institutional mechanisms which bring systematic reviews and policy priorities closer by harnessing organisational and individual motivations, emphasising engagement between policy and research, embedding efforts in conducive structures and supporting the…
How to increase value and reduce waste when research priorities are set
Rapid evidence assessments of research to inform social policy
There is a tension between conducting comprehensive systematic reviews and completing them in time to meet policy-making deadlines. The ‘rapid evidence assessment’ has been proposed as a solution to this; offering rigorous reviews in a condensed timescale. While used frequently in healthcare, this mode of reviewing presents considerable challenges in social policy. We describe some potential problems and suggest reviewing strategies that can over…
Clarifying differences between review designs and methods
This paper argues that the current proliferation of types of systematic reviews creates challenges for the terminology for describing such reviews. Terminology is necessary for planning, describing, appraising, and using reviews, building infrastructure to enable the conduct and use of reviews, and for further developing review methodology. There is insufficient consensus on terminology for a typology of reviews to be produced and any such attemp…
Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research
The syntheses of multiple qualitative studies can pull together data across different contexts, generate new theoretical or conceptual models, identify research gaps, and provide evidence for the development, implementation and evaluation of health interventions. This study aims to develop a framework for reporting the synthesis of qualitative health research. We conducted a comprehensive search for guidance and reviews relevant to the synthesis …
Narrative approaches to systematic review and synthesis of evidence for international development policy and practice
Damned if you do, damned if you don't
The final report from the WHO Commission on the social determinants of health recently noted: ‘For policy, however important an ethical imperative, values alone are insufficient. There needs to be evidence on what can be done and what is likely to work in practice to improve health and reduce health inequities.’ This is challenging, because understanding how to reduce health inequities between the poorest and better-off members of society may req…
Patients’ and clinicians’ research priorities
BACKGROUND: If research addresses the questions of relevance to patients and clinicians, decision-makers will be better equipped to design and deliver health services which meet their needs. To this end, a number of initiatives have engaged patients and clinicians in setting research agendas. This paper aimed to scope the research literature addressing such efforts. METHODS: A systematic search strategy combined electronic searches of bibliograph…
Interventions for promoting smoking cessation during pregnancy
BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking in pregnancy remains one of the few preventable factors associated with complications in pregnancy, low birthweight, preterm birth and has serious long-term health implications for women and babies. Smoking in pregnancy is decreasing in high-income countries and increasing in low- to middle-income countries and is strongly associated with poverty, low educational attainment, poor social support and psychological illnes…
School-based cognitive-behavioural interventions
A multidimensional conceptual framework for analysing public involvement in health services research
Objective To describe the development of a multidimensional conceptual framework capable of drawing out the implications for policy and practice of what is known about public involvement in research agenda setting. Background Public involvement in research is growing in western and developing countries. There is a need to learn from collective experience and a diverse literature of research, policy documents and reflective reports. Methods System…
Informed choice and public health screening for children
Objective To examine parents’ and health professionals’ views on informed choice in newborn blood spot screening, and assess information and communication needs. Design and participants A qualitative study involving semi‐structured telephone interviews and focus groups with 47 parents of children who were either found to be affected or unaffected by the screened conditions, and 35 health professionals with differing roles in newborn blood spot sc…
The politics of evidence and methodology
English The ‘evidence movement’ poses particular challenges to social science. This article describes and reflects on some of these challenges, using as a case study the development over the period from 1993 of the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordinating (EPPI-Centre) at the Institute of Education, University of London. The article describes the development of EPPICentre resources for supporting evidence-informed policy in t…
An Emerging Framework for Including Different Types of Evidence in Systematic Reviews for Public Policy
Evidence-informed policy and practice call on research addressing a broad range of research questions: evaluating the need for, and development, implementation, acceptability and effectiveness of interventions. Synthesizing this evidence requires methods that integrate the findings from diverse study designs. This article reports the development of a new model of research synthesis for this purpose. On completion of a series of substantive review…
An Emerging Framework for Including Different Types of Evidence in Systematic Reviews for Public Policy
Evidence-informed policy and practice call on research addressing a broad range of research questions: evaluating the need for, and development, implementation, acceptability and effectiveness of interventions. Synthesizing this evidence requires methods that integrate the findings from diverse study designs. This article reports the development of a new model of research synthesis for this purpose. On completion of a series of substantive review…
Damned if you do, damned if you don't
The final report from the WHO Commission on the social determinants of health recently noted: ‘For policy, however important an ethical imperative, values alone are insufficient. There needs to be evidence on what can be done and what is likely to work in practice to improve health and reduce health inequities.’ This is challenging, because understanding how to reduce health inequities between the poorest and better-off members of society may req…
Education research and educational practice
The relationship between education practice and education research has a long history. In modern times, education practice and its relation to education research has been central to debates about the nature and quality of education as an academic discipline in universities. This article reports an empirical study that investigated a new instantiation of the practice–theory debate: ‘close‐to‐practice’ research in education. The research sought to …
Rapid evidence assessments of research to inform social policy
There is a tension between conducting comprehensive systematic reviews and completing them in time to meet policy-making deadlines. The ‘rapid evidence assessment’ has been proposed as a solution to this; offering rigorous reviews in a condensed timescale. While used frequently in healthcare, this mode of reviewing presents considerable challenges in social policy. We describe some potential problems and suggest reviewing strategies that can over…
The politics of evidence and methodology
English The ‘evidence movement’ poses particular challenges to social science. This article describes and reflects on some of these challenges, using as a case study the development over the period from 1993 of the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordinating (EPPI-Centre) at the Institute of Education, University of London. The article describes the development of EPPICentre resources for supporting evidence-informed policy in t…
People and practice
Policy-relevant systematic reviews to strengthen health systems
Support for producing systematic reviews about health systems is less well developed than for those about clinical practice. From interviewing policy makers and systematic reviewers we identified institutional mechanisms which bring systematic reviews and policy priorities closer by harnessing organisational and individual motivations, emphasising engagement between policy and research, embedding efforts in conducive structures and supporting the…
Involving consumers in a needs‐led research programme
Objectives To describe the methods used for involving consumers in a needs‐led health research programme, and to discuss facilitators, barriers and goals. Design In a short action research pilot study, we involved consumers in all stages of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme: identifying and prioritizing research topics; commissioning and reporting research; and communicating openly about the programme. We drew on the experience of …
Investigating Consumer Perspectives on Evaluating Health Technologies
In a short pilot study we systematically involved healthcare consumers in identifying research topics, and prioritizing, commissioning and reporting evaluations of health technologies. We analysed records of consumers' suggestions for their content and, wherever possible, compared them with suggestions from academics and staff of the UK National Health Service. Consumers tended to highlight issues about patients' views, social contexts, informati…
Applying systematic review methods to studies of people’s views
Methods for systematic reviews are well developed for trials, but not for non-experimental or qualitative research. This paper describes the methods developed for reviewing research on people’s perspectives and experiences (“views” studies) alongside trials within a series of reviews on young people’s mental health, physical activity, and healthy eating. Reports of views studies were difficult to locate; could not easily be classified as “qualita…
Informed choice and public health screening for children
Objective To examine parents’ and health professionals’ views on informed choice in newborn blood spot screening, and assess information and communication needs. Design and participants A qualitative study involving semi‐structured telephone interviews and focus groups with 47 parents of children who were either found to be affected or unaffected by the screened conditions, and 35 health professionals with differing roles in newborn blood spot sc…
The politics of evidence and methodology
English The ‘evidence movement’ poses particular challenges to social science. This article describes and reflects on some of these challenges, using as a case study the development over the period from 1993 of the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordinating (EPPI-Centre) at the Institute of Education, University of London. The article describes the development of EPPICentre resources for supporting evidence-informed policy in t…
An Emerging Framework for Including Different Types of Evidence in Systematic Reviews for Public Policy
Evidence-informed policy and practice call on research addressing a broad range of research questions: evaluating the need for, and development, implementation, acceptability and effectiveness of interventions. Synthesizing this evidence requires methods that integrate the findings from diverse study designs. This article reports the development of a new model of research synthesis for this purpose. On completion of a series of substantive review…
A multidimensional conceptual framework for analysing public involvement in health services research
Objective To describe the development of a multidimensional conceptual framework capable of drawing out the implications for policy and practice of what is known about public involvement in research agenda setting. Background Public involvement in research is growing in western and developing countries. There is a need to learn from collective experience and a diverse literature of research, policy documents and reflective reports. Methods System…
Interventions for promoting smoking cessation during pregnancy
BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking in pregnancy remains one of the few preventable factors associated with complications in pregnancy, low birthweight, preterm birth and has serious long-term health implications for women and babies. Smoking in pregnancy is decreasing in high-income countries and increasing in low- to middle-income countries and is strongly associated with poverty, low educational attainment, poor social support and psychological illnes…
School-based cognitive-behavioural interventions
Patients’ and clinicians’ research priorities
BACKGROUND: If research addresses the questions of relevance to patients and clinicians, decision-makers will be better equipped to design and deliver health services which meet their needs. To this end, a number of initiatives have engaged patients and clinicians in setting research agendas. This paper aimed to scope the research literature addressing such efforts. METHODS: A systematic search strategy combined electronic searches of bibliograph…
Clarifying differences between review designs and methods
This paper argues that the current proliferation of types of systematic reviews creates challenges for the terminology for describing such reviews. Terminology is necessary for planning, describing, appraising, and using reviews, building infrastructure to enable the conduct and use of reviews, and for further developing review methodology. There is insufficient consensus on terminology for a typology of reviews to be produced and any such attemp…
Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research
The syntheses of multiple qualitative studies can pull together data across different contexts, generate new theoretical or conceptual models, identify research gaps, and provide evidence for the development, implementation and evaluation of health interventions. This study aims to develop a framework for reporting the synthesis of qualitative health research. We conducted a comprehensive search for guidance and reviews relevant to the synthesis …
Narrative approaches to systematic review and synthesis of evidence for international development policy and practice
Damned if you do, damned if you don't
The final report from the WHO Commission on the social determinants of health recently noted: ‘For policy, however important an ethical imperative, values alone are insufficient. There needs to be evidence on what can be done and what is likely to work in practice to improve health and reduce health inequities.’ This is challenging, because understanding how to reduce health inequities between the poorest and better-off members of society may req…
Rapid evidence assessments of research to inform social policy
There is a tension between conducting comprehensive systematic reviews and completing them in time to meet policy-making deadlines. The ‘rapid evidence assessment’ has been proposed as a solution to this; offering rigorous reviews in a condensed timescale. While used frequently in healthcare, this mode of reviewing presents considerable challenges in social policy. We describe some potential problems and suggest reviewing strategies that can over…
How to increase value and reduce waste when research priorities are set
The effectiveness of community engagement in public health interventions for disadvantaged groups
Policy-relevant systematic reviews to strengthen health systems
Support for producing systematic reviews about health systems is less well developed than for those about clinical practice. From interviewing policy makers and systematic reviewers we identified institutional mechanisms which bring systematic reviews and policy priorities closer by harnessing organisational and individual motivations, emphasising engagement between policy and research, embedding efforts in conducive structures and supporting the…
Narratives of community engagement
Producing policy relevant systematic reviews
This study employed insider research and reflective practice to investigate exchanges across the research-policy interface to understand the practice of producing policy-relevant systematic reviews. Interviewees came from 11 systematic reviews or review programmes which spanned four models of policy-relevant reviews and between them provided evidence for understanding policy problems, comparing policy options, or implementing policy decisions. No…
Enhancing Public Health Systematic Reviews With Diagram Visualization
People and practice
Education research and educational practice
The relationship between education practice and education research has a long history. In modern times, education practice and its relation to education research has been central to debates about the nature and quality of education as an academic discipline in universities. This article reports an empirical study that investigated a new instantiation of the practice–theory debate: ‘close‐to‐practice’ research in education. The research sought to …
The What Works Centres
Leaders, researchers and practitioners from the UK 'What Works Network' share their insights on the successes, failures, and future of the What Works Centres, which have proven successful and popular across a number of policy settings.
The utilization of systematic review evidence in formulating India’s National Health Programme guidelines between 2007 and 2021
Evidence-informed policymaking integrates the best available evidence on programme outcomes to guide decisions at all stages of the policy process and its importance becomes more pronounced in resource-constrained settings. In this paper, we have reviewed the use of systematic review evidence in framing National Health Programme (NHP) guidelines in India. We searched official websites of the different NHPs, linked to the main website of the Minis…
Political science (14 works) · Medicine (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Health Policy Implementation Science (10 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Business (6 works) · Engineering (6 works) · Management science (6 works) · MEDLINE (6 works)