#12695. Commentary: Policy implementation science – An unexplored strategy to address social determinants of health

October 2026publication date
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Cultural Studies;
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous);
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More details about the manuscript: Science Citation Index Expanded or/and Social Sciences Citation Index
Abstract:
This commentary explores the ways in which research focused on policy implementation will increase our ability to understand how to address social determinants of health. We make three key points. First, policies that affect our lives and health are developed and implemented every single day. These include “small p” policies, such as those at our workplaces that influence whether we have affordable access to healthy food at work, as well as “large P” policies that, for example, determine at a larger level whether our children’s schools are required to provide physical education. However, policies interact with context and are likely to have differential effects across different groups based on demographics, socioeconomic status, geography, and culture. We are unlikely to improve health equity if we do not begin to systematically evaluate the ways in which policies can incorporate evidence-based approaches to reducing inequities and to provide structural supports needed for such interventions to have maximal impact. A policy mandating physical education in schools will do little to address disparities in fitness and weight-related outcomes if all schools cannot provide the resources for physical education teachers and safe activity spaces. Second, as we argue for an increased emphasis on policy implementation science, we acknowledge its nascent status. Although the field of implementation science has become increasingly robust in the past decade, there has been only limited application to policy. Third, development of an explicit policy implementation science agenda focused on health equity is critical. This will include efforts to bridge scientific evidence and policy adoption and implementation, to evaluate policy impact on a range of health equity outcomes, and to examine differential effects of varied policy implementation processes across population groups.
Keywords:
Health Equity; Implementation Science; Policy; Social Determinants of Health

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