Abstract

A life-course approach to health and well-being has become a pillar in health policy-making; for example, Member States of the WHO European Region in the 2015 Minsk Declaration resolved to make greater use of a life-course approach in health policies. However, strategies for implementation of a life-course approach, and a plan for monitoring and evaluating this implementation, are lacking. This scoping review identified a lack of literature with a focus on measurement of the implementation of a life-course approach. The report provides suggestions from research on a life-course approach in public health interventions and national-level strategies that could aid policy-makers in developing a measurement framework. For example, Member States using a life-course approach in policy at a population level could report on existing interventions in key stages of the life-course using existing survey platforms and routinely collected quantitative data. Ideally, a monitoring and evaluation framework collecting data longitudinally across different life stages over time should be created for Member States.

Contents

• ABBREVIATIONS
• CONTRIBUTORS
• SUMMARY
• 1. INTRODUCTION
  • 1.1. Background
  • 1.2. Methodology
• 2. RESULTS
  • 2.1. Measurement of the implementation of a life-course approach
  • 2.2. Measurement of implementation of life-course interventions in practice
• 3. DISCUSSION
  • 3.1. Strengths and limitations of the review
  • 3.2. Implementing a life-course approach to health: urgency and challenges
  • 3.3. Measuring the implementation of a life-course approach
  • 3.4. Policy considerations
• 4. CONCLUSIONS
• REFERENCES
• ANNEX 1. SEARCH STRATEGY
• ANNEX 2. OUTLINE APPROACH FOR OPERATIONALIZING A LIFE-COURSE FRAMEWORK

Suggested citation:

Jacob CM, Cooper C, Baird J, Hanson M. What quantitative and qualitative methods have been developed to measure the implementation of a life-course approach in public health policies at the national level? Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2019 (Health Evidence Network (HEN) synthesis report 63).

The Health Evidence Network

The Health Evidence Network (HEN) is an information service for public health decision-makers in the WHO European Region, in action since 2003 and initiated and coordinated by the WHO Regional Office for Europe under the umbrella of the WHO European Health Information Initiative (a multipartner network coordinating all health information activities in the WHO European Region).

HEN supports public health decision-makers to use the best available evidence in their own decision-making and aims to ensure links between evidence, health policies and improvements in public health. The HEN synthesis report series provides summaries of what is known about the policy issue, the gaps in the evidence and the areas of debate. Based on the synthesized evidence, HEN proposes policy considerations, not recommendations, for policy-makers to formulate their own recommendations and policies within their national context.

HEN and the Evidence for health and well-being in context project: enhancing Health 2020 monitoring and reporting

The Evidence for health and well-being in context project was initiated at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in response to Members States' consideration of Health 2020, the European policy framework for health and well-being. Health 2020 includes a number of promising values-based health concepts that are difficult to measure and report on. In response to this challenge, the WHO Regional Office for Europe convened an expert group to investigate ways of enhancing Health 2020 monitoring and reporting. The first meeting of the Expert Group on Enhancing Health 2020 Monitoring and Reporting was convened by the WHO Regional Office for Europe on 1–2 September 2016. The project operates under the umbrella of the WHO European Health Information Initiative (EHII), a multimember WHO network that seeks to improve and harmonize information for health among the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region.

The Expert Group recommended the commission of this HEN synthesis report examining the quantitative and qualitative methods developed to measure implementation of a life-course approach in public health policies at a national level. Two related previously published HEN synthesis reports related to Health 2020 values-based concepts were also recommended by the Expert Group: HEN 59 on community empowerment and HEN 60 on community resilience.

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ISSN 2227-4316

ISBN 978 92 890 5393 8

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