Evidence-based health impact assessment (EBHIA): a situation report

Chilaka, M

Abstract

Objective: This article presents and discusses the findings from a primary research to ascertain the different sources of evidence commonly applied to the Health Impact Assessment process within the United Kingdom.
Study design: This is a primary study with a mix of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to research data collection and analysis.
Method: Questionnaire survey of 52 HIA practitioners in the United Kingdom, who had conducted a total of 103 health impact assessments over a three year period. This was followed by a semi-structured interview of 11 practitioners to gain deeper insights into the findings from the questionnaire findings.
Results: Ten (10) different sources of evidence were seen to have been applied to the HIA process. Literature review was discovered to be the most commonly utilised source of evidence, having been used by 37 out of 52 practitioners (71.2%) and in 83.5% of the 103 health impact assessments.
Engagement with local residents was second in terms of usage by practitioners (69.2%) and expert opinion was third, having been used by 67.3% of questionnaire respondents. Expert opinion was however discovered to have been applied to the highest number of health impact assessments, having been utilised in 84.5% of the 103 HIAs.
Other sources of evidence that were employed by the health impact assessors included community profiling, completed HIA reports, key informants, survey, modelling, and Delphi exercises.
Conclusions: The findings from this research point to deliberate efforts to ensure that predictions are grounded on robust sources of evidence. However several issues and challenges need to be adequately addressed in the quest to promote evidence based HIA (EBHIA).

Citation

Chilaka, M. (2010). Evidence-based health impact assessment (EBHIA): a situation report. International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 26(2), 213-222. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.1064

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2010
• Deposit Date: Oct 10, 2011
• Journal: The International Journal of Health Planning and Management
• Print ISSN: 0749-6753
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 213-222
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.1064
• Keywords: Evidence base, health impact assessment
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hpm.1064