Priority setting and policy advocacy by nursing associations: a scoping review and implications using a socio-ecological whole systems lens.

OBJECTIVE: We undertook an interpretative scoping review to examine organizational priority setting and policy advocacy and the factors that influence nursing associations' cross-sector public policy choices and actions. METHOD: Evidence was drawn from research, narrative, and theoretical sources that described priority setting and policy advocacy undertaken by non-governmental, non-profit, and nursing associations. Text was extracted from selected papers, imported into NVivo 8, coded, and analyzed using a descriptive-analytical narrative method. RESULTS: Many internal and external factors are shown to shape organizations' policy choices and actions including governance and governance structures, membership arrangements, legislative, professional, and jurisdictional mandates, perceived credibility, and external system disruptions. CONCLUSIONS: Internal and external factors are identified in the literature as critical to how organizations succeed or fail to set achievable priorities and advance their advocacy goals. Case comparisons and longitudinal research are needed to understand nursing associations' policy choices and actions for cross-sector public policy given their complex organizational structures and dynamic professional-legal-social-economic-political-ecological environments. A socio-ecological systems perspective can inform the development of theoretical frameworks and research to understand leverage points and blockages to guide nursing associations' public policy choices and actions at varying points in time.

Mapping a research agenda for home care safety: perspectives from researchers, providers, and decision makers.

The purpose of this qualitative interpretive design was to explore the perspectives of researchers, health care providers, policy makers, and decision makers on key risks, concerns, and emerging issues related to home care safety that would inform a line of research inquiry. Defining safety specifically in this home care context has yet to be described; consequently, gaining insight from various stakeholders about safety issues relevant to the home care sector is necessary in order to inform strategic directions for future research. To begin to map a research agenda, a three-part environmental scan was conducted: (a) a pilot study with home care recipients and providers; (b) key informant interviews with researchers, health care providers, policy makers, and decision makers; and (c) a review of literature in three topic areas. Only the results of the key informant interviews are reported here.

Building nurses' capacity in community health services.

This paper describes core processes, components, and insights gained from a research internship offered through the University of Ottawa, Canada. The growing demand for high quality nursing research requires the development and implementation of strategies for enhanced research capacity. A three-month intensive internship was developed as a main feature of a nursing chair held by the first author. The internship was deliberately structured around core processes of providing individual and group mentoring, creating opportunities for experiential education, and strengthening networks with researchers and decision-makers in health services and policy research. Building and sustaining individual research capacity was supported with strategies to address system challenges. If nurses are going to make their voices heard and increase their contributions to novel health service delivery approaches, building research capacity will be a core element. The internship may be a useful prototype for the development of initiatives to build research capacity in other settings.