Partnerships in Public Health Economics: Reflective Lessons from UK Obesity Research

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Economics
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Multi-sectoral partnerships are vital for public health economics research.
• High-income countries face unique challenges in governance, communication, and policy translation.
• Existing evidence predominantly focuses on low- and middle-income countries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a reflective account of partnership working in UK population obesity research.
• To identify key enablers, barriers, and lessons for high-income country contexts.
• To compare findings with existing literature from low- and middle-income countries.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the MacPhee partnership model for guided reflections.
• Conducted semi-structured interviews with research staff and PhD students.
• Thematically analyzed interview transcripts, mapping codes to the MacPhee framework.

Main Results:

• Effective partnerships depend on pre-existing relationships, clear goals, adaptive communication, and flexibility.
• Trust is a crucial input and outcome, necessitating sustained investment.
• Weak governance, especially with commercial stakeholders, hinders partnerships; a skills shift towards relational and translational expertise for health economists is needed.

Conclusions:

• High-income country partnerships require explicit focus on governance, trust, and communication.
• Integrating partnership skills into health economics training is recommended.
• Project design must allocate adequate time and resources for sustainable collaborations.