Capturing complexity: integrating health and education research to inform health-promoting schools policy and practice

Despite the intersectoral nature of health promotion practice many programs limit their evidence base to health sector research and do not draw on evidence from other sectors' research in program design. To help ensure programs are relevant and acceptable to intersectoral partners and intended outcomes are of value to all sectors involved, utilising evidence from more than one discipline is essential. This article identifies the narrow interpretation of existing evidence for health promoting schools and discusses the challenges faced by practitioners and policy makers when reviewing evidence. These issues include the various perspectives on what is 'quality' evidence and how to ensure multidisciplinary evidence is used to inform practice, particularly with the education sector that has a strong research base of its own. A data extraction tool was developed to help address these issues and assist the design of a health promoting schools program. A description of the tool's elements and two case studies provide examples of how research from two different disciplines can be integrated to inform planning and strengthen partnerships. The tool expands the evidence base for policy and practice decision-making for health promoting schools, acknowledging the practical realities of both sectors.