Health Policy and Systems Research Methodology

The field of health policy and systems research (HPSR) examines how societies organise to achieve collective health goals, and how different actors and organisations interact in developing and organising health systems and programmes, and engage in health policy-making and policy implementation. Health system and policy researchers draw on inter-disciplinary approaches and methods to comprehensively document and analyse how health systems and health policies can be adapted and improved to responding to existing and emerging health issues.

In this 3-week course, you will gain understanding of how health policies and health systems can be described and analysed through research approaches and methods, and how to conceptualise a small-scale HPSR project.  The course draws on perspectives and methods from disciplines such political science, sociology, anthropology and public health. Faculty from the Health Systems and Health Policy Research Group of the Department of Public Health at ITM and invited guest lecturers have extensive experience of HPSR and draw on a rich portfolio of studies to illustrate key principles and skills taught in the course.