Highlighting the palliative care needs of people using drugs

Letter to Collegian - The Australian Journal of Nursing Practice, Scholarship and Researc

The emperor has no clothes: a synthesis of findings from the Transformative Research on the Alcohol industry, Policy and Science research programme.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The Transformative Research on the Alcohol industry, Policy and Science (TRAPS) programme investigates the alcohol industry, with an innovative focus on public health sciences. TRAPS adds to an under-developed literature on the study of alcohol industry influence on alcohol policy making. This paper provides a synthesis of TRAPS findings to inform future research. METHODS: We conducted an interpretive review of TRAPS research findings across its component studies, identifying and integrating the key contributions made by individual studies to the literature on alcohol policy making and science, and identifying areas where TRAPS progress was limited. This produced themes for consideration in future research agenda setting. RESULTS: TRAPS research explored the intervention of the alcohol industry in science and policy making using various methods, including systematic reviews, qualitative interviews, and network analysis. These studies identified the industry's political activities in several key areas, such as the debate over minimum unit pricing (MUP), cardiovascular health and alcohol research, and a long-running public relations programme developed in close connection with the tobacco industry. Collectively, the research shows that alcohol policy making has involved a contest between the research community and alcohol industry actors about whether and how science should be used to inform policy. CONCLUSIONS: The Transformative Research on the Alcohol industry, Policy and Science (TRAPS) programme demonstrates the need for a transdisciplinary approach to understand the nature of corporate political activity; the crucial role industry involvement in science plays in the development of corporate political power; and how public health actors have successfully overcome industry opposition to evidence-based policies. Advances in alcohol policy should be underpinned by strong, reflexive public health sciences, alert to the role of industry in the alcohol harms under study, and thorough in their investigation of the alcohol industry as an object of research in itself

Policy-oriented environmental research: what is it worth?

Environmental and conservation scientists are increasingly being asked to justify their work in terms of benefits to society. This article describes economic theory for conceptualizing the benefits from environmental research, and provides a framework for estimating those benefits. In particular we discuss the evaluation of environmental science that is intended to benefit society through informing policy decisions. The chain between environmental research and its benefits through policy change includes at least four links: the research itself, policy change, behavior change and environmental change. Each of these four stages presents challenges and entails time lags. If any link fails, the chain breaks. The standard economic model of supply and demand, which is used to quantify benefits from research into market goods, can be adapted for application to environmental goods. Improved conceptualization and measurement of benefits from environmental research would assist environmental scientists to: (1) select research topics that are likely to deliver large environmental benefits; (2) design their research in a way that will increase its relevance, usefulness and potential impact on policy and, ultimately, the environment; and (3) make the case for funding particular research proposals. It could assist research agencies or research funders to: prioritize proposed research; make a case for increased funding for environmental research; and identify obstacles to the translation of research into environmental impacts, allowing attention to be focused on addressing these bottlenecks