Shaping Health Policy: The Role of Nursing Research—Three Frameworks and Their Application to Policy Development

Policy making is complex, and many factors play into it. Factors like political ideology, political will, public opinion, stakeholder engagement, media coverage, and others, influence the policy-development process. Policy decisions of governments are so different despite the fact that there is only one set of evidence. This chapter helps the reader to understand the factors that contribute to final decision making. While the notion of evidenced-based policy is used in most policy development, there is growing science to help advance and strengthen this practice. This chapter describes three models that integrate evidence in the policy-making process, where research can be used to inform policy. The three models include: data-driven policymaking, evidence-informed health policy, and the policy cycle-moving from issue to policy. The healthcare and nursing community can benefit significantly by adapting the tools for evidence-informed policy development.