IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v126y2022i9p889-898.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The expression of ‘policy’ in palliative care: A critical review

Author

Listed:
  • Whitelaw, Sandy
  • Bell, Anthony
  • Clark, David

Abstract

The importance of ‘policy’ within palliative care has steadily increased over the past 25 years. Whilst this has been welcomed within the palliative care field and seen as a route to greater recognition, we focus here on a more critical perspective that challenge the effectiveness of a ‘policy turn’ in palliative care. Applying Bacchi's “What's the Problem Represented to Be?” (WPR) framework to data from a systematic search, we address the research question, “in what ways has ‘policy’ been articulated in palliative care literature?”. The paper describes the construction of ‘the problem’ context and reflects critically on the robustness and pragmatic utility of such representations. In particular, we identify five elements as prominent and problematic: (1) a lack of empirical evidence that connects policy to practice; (2) the dominance of ‘Global North’ approaches; (3) the use of a policy narrative based on ‘catastrophe’ in justifying the need for palliative care; (4) the use of idealistic and aspirational ‘calls to action’; and (5) a disengaged and antagonistic orientation to existing health systems. We conclude by suggesting that the efficacy of palliative care policy could be enhanced via greater emphases on ‘Global South’ perspectives, ‘assets-based’ approaches and attention to pragmatic implementation.

Suggested Citation

  • Whitelaw, Sandy & Bell, Anthony & Clark, David, 2022. "The expression of ‘policy’ in palliative care: A critical review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(9), pages 889-898.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:126:y:2022:i:9:p:889-898
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.06.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851022001634
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.06.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Evans, 2001. "Understanding Dialectics in Policy Network Analysis," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 49(3), pages 542-550, August.
    2. Devi Vijay & Philippe Monin, 2018. "Poisedness for social innovation : The genesis and propagation of community-based palliative care in Kerala (India)," Post-Print hal-02312268, HAL.
    3. Hibbert, Derek & Hanratty, Barbara & May, Carl & Mair, Frances & Litva, Andrea & Capewell, Simon, 2003. "Negotiating palliative care expertise in the medical world," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 277-288, July.
    4. Burgess, Teresa & Braunack-Mayer, Annette & Crawford, Gregory B. & Beilby, Justin, 2014. "Australian health policy and end of life care for people with chronic disease: An analysis," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 60-67.
    5. Chattoo, Sangeeta & Atkin, Karl M., 2009. "Extending specialist palliative care to people with heart failure: Semantic, historical and practical limitations to policy guidelines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 147-153, July.
    6. May, Peter & Hynes, Geralyn & McCallion, Philip & Payne, Sheila & Larkin, Philip & McCarron, Mary, 2014. "Policy analysis: Palliative care in Ireland," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 68-74.
    7. George Weisz & Etienne Vignola-Gagné, 2015. "The World Health Organization and the Globalization of Chronic Noncommunicable Disease," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 41(3), pages 507-532, September.
    8. Carol Bacchi, 2016. "Problematizations in Health Policy," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(2), pages 21582440166, June.
    9. Zaman, Shahaduz & Inbadas, Hamilton & Whitelaw, Alexander & Clark, David, 2017. "Common or multiple futures for end of life care around the world? Ideas from the ‘waiting room of history’," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 72-79.
    10. Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard & Isaksson, Karolina & Macmillen, James & Åkerman, Jonas & Kressler, Florian, 2014. "Strategies to manage barriers in policy formation and implementation of road pricing packages," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 40-52.
    11. Sudbury-Riley, Lynn & Hunter-Jones, Philippa, 2021. "Facilitating inter-professional integration in palliative care: A service ecosystem perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    12. Frieden, T.R., 2010. "A framework for public health action: The health impact pyramid," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(4), pages 590-595.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen Zhang & Xiaoming Li & Yu Liu & Shan Qiao & Liying Zhang & Yuejiao Zhou & Zhenzhu Tang & Zhiyong Shen & Yi Chen, 2016. "Stigma against People Living with HIV/AIDS in China: Does the Route of Infection Matter?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Bolte, Gabriele, 2018. "Epidemiologische Methoden und Erkenntnisse als eine Grundlage für Stadtplanung und gesundheitsfördernde Stadtentwicklung," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Baumgart, Sabine & Köckler, Heike & Ritzinger, Anne & Rüdiger, Andrea (ed.), Planung für gesundheitsfördernde Städte, volume 8, pages 118-134, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    3. Tamara Rodríguez Quintana & Viviana Dávalos-Batallas & Ana-Magdalena Vargas-Martínez & Lucelly López & Patricia Bonilla-Sierra & María-de-las-Mercedes Lomas-Campos & Fatima Leon-Larios, 2021. "Implementation and Knowledge of the Clinical Practice Guide for Palliative Care in the Ecuadorian Primary Care Level," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-14, November.
    4. Sebastian del Busto & Inés Galindo & Juan Jesús Hernandez & Francisco Camarelles & Esther Nieto & Águeda Caballero & María Sandín Vázquez, 2019. "Creating a Collaborative Platform for the Development of Community Interventions to Prevent Non-Communicable Diseases," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-14, February.
    5. Katie Adamek & Sarah Bardin & So O'Neil & Dara Lee Luca, "undated". "Accelerating Teen Pregnancy Prevention in Phillips County, Arkansas and Coahoma County, Mississippi," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 7fda86cbb1bf4303a84f466e8, Mathematica Policy Research.
    6. John W Helsel & Venktesh Pandey & Stephen D. Boyles, 2020. "Time-Equitable Dynamic Tolling Scheme For Single Bottlenecks," Papers 2007.07091, arXiv.org.
    7. Magalhães, David José Ahouagi Vaz de & Rivera-Gonzalez, Carlos, 2021. "Car users’ attitudes towards an enhanced bus system to mitigate urban congestion in a developing country," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 452-464.
    8. Grdenić, Goran & Delimar, Marko & Robić, Slavica, 2020. "Framing the context of energy poverty in Croatia: A case-study from Zagreb," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    9. Rita Ferreira Gomes & Beatriz Casais, 2018. "Feelings generated by threat appeals in social marketing: text and emoji analysis of user reactions to anorexia nervosa campaigns in social media," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 15(4), pages 591-607, December.
    10. Yannai Kranzler & Yael Parag & Nadav Davidovitch, 2019. "Public Health from the Middle-Out: A New Analytical Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-16, December.
    11. Benjamin Quasinowski & Tao Liu, 2020. "The Globalisation of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Diseases in the World–Society—A Case Study with a Special Focus on Heart Failure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-22, April.
    12. Seán Schmitz & Sophia Becker & Laura Weiand & Norman Niehoff & Frank Schwartzbach & Erika von Schneidemesser, 2019. "Determinants of Public Acceptance for Traffic-Reducing Policies to Improve Urban Air Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-16, July.
    13. Chu, Singfat, 2015. "Car restraint policies and mileage in Singapore," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 404-412.
    14. Sean Lucan & Nandita Mitra, 2012. "Perceptions of the food environment are associated with fast-food (not fruit-and-vegetable) consumption: findings from multi-level models," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 57(3), pages 599-608, June.
    15. Hysing, Erik & Isaksson, Karolina, 2015. "Building acceptance for congestion charges – the Swedish experiences compared," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 52-60.
    16. Mario Cesare Nurchis & Marcello Di Pumpo & Alessio Perilli & Giuseppe Greco & Gianfranco Damiani, 2023. "Nudging Interventions on Alcohol and Tobacco Consumption in Adults: A Scoping Review of the Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-10, January.
    17. Grace Katharine Forster & Leif Edvard Aarø & Maria Nordheim Alme & Thomas Hansen & Thomas Sevenius Nilsen & Øystein Vedaa, 2023. "Built Environment Accessibility and Disability as Predictors of Well-Being among Older Adults: A Norwegian Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-15, May.
    18. Bridget Johnston & Philip Larkin & Michael Connolly & Catriona Barry & Melanie Narayanasamy & Ulrika Östlund & Sonja McIlfatrick, 2015. "Dignity‐conserving care in palliative care settings: An integrative review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(13-14), pages 1743-1772, July.
    19. Ramjerdi, Farideh & Fearnley, Nils, 2014. "Risk and irreversibility of transport interventions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 31-39.
    20. Reid, Kaydian S. & Sekhobo, Jackson P. & Gantner, Leigh A. & Holbrook, MaryEllen K. & Allsopp, Marie & Whalen, Linda B. & Koren-Roth, Amy, 2018. "A mixed-method evaluation of the New York State Eat Well Play Hard Community Projects: Building local capacity for sustainable childhood obesity prevention," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 79-88.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:126:y:2022:i:9:p:889-898. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.