An overview on health services research in France between 2010 and 2015: Marine Spaak

Background

The main objective of this study is to provide a better understanding of health services research (HSR) in France, which is one of the priorities for public health research planning. This field is difficult to define, considering its heterogeneity and the fact that the knowledge produced is not only academic, but also has a strong connection with decision-making. The preliminary findings of this study were presented at the 2016 EUPHA Conference. The final results are now available.

Methods

A bibliometric analysis was conducted to identify the main poles in knowledge production, the authors’ networks and the subjects of research. Bibliometric tools (VOSViewer and RéseauLu) were used to map the teams involved in France and to classify the keywords found in over 3000 publications (2010-2015). The conduct of semi-structured interviews with 20 researchers and 13 institutional players strengthened the analysis.

Results

Although insufficient to build a critical mass, research teams from several disciplines are being structured on various topics in the area of HSR in the main cities. The interviews show that the definition of “health services” is vague and underline the blurred lines between research, expertise and evaluation. Furthermore, the field does not seem to be well understood by its evaluators, which makes the maintenance of interdisciplinary research teams complicated.

A comparison between the keyword clusters generated for France and those generated for the countries with the highest number of publications (USA, England & Canada) indicates that the French HSR seems more hospital-centred than is the case in other countries. The analysis also reveals a lack of research on methodological aspects.

Conclusions

This study explains the structure of HSR in France and the specificity of the French publications in this field of research. It shows the obstacles faced by researchers and decision-makers and allows a discussion on how these barriers can be overcome.

Key messages:

• Over the years, a higher number of French stakeholders seem to engage in a more global and structured reflection on health services research.

• Compared with countries such as the USA, Canada, England or Australia, French health services research seems to be more hospital-centred and less dedicated to methodological aspects.