Perhaps this paper may bring some good ideas:

"Evaluation of health promotion, public health or public policy interventions

Principles and Practice of Health Promotion: Health Promotion Evalution and Effectiveness

This section covers: Evaluation of health promotion, public health or public policy interventions..."

http://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/disease-causation-diagnostic/2h-principles-health-promotion/health-promotion-evaluation

Hello Alaa

Not all of these are strictly relating to policies, but maybe of some relevance:

Walt, G., Shiffman, J., Schneider, H., Murray, S. F., Brugha, R., & Gilson, L. (2008). ‘Doing’health policy analysis: methodological and conceptual reflections and challenges. Health policy and planning, 23(5), 308-317.

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/23169295

Weiner J (2005) Health Policy Analysis Checklist For the Development, Selection, and Assessment of Program Policies; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University.

http://ocw.jhsph.edu/courses/IntroHealthPolicy/PDFs/Bardach_Outline_IHP_7b.pdf

Rychetnik, L., Frommer, M., Hawe, P., & Shiell, A. (2002). Criteria for evaluating evidence on public health interventions. Journal of epidemiology and community health, 56(2), 119-127.

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/11546318

Hollon, D., Miller, I. J., & Robinson, E. (2002). Criteria for evaluating treatment guidelines. American Psychologist, 57(12), 1052-1059.

https://www.apa.org/practice/guidelines/evaluating.pdf

The site suggested by Miranda, above, was interesting, and it will be good to see what other RG members suggest,

Very best wishes

Mary

Article 'Doing' health policy analysis: Methodological and conceptua...

Article Criteria for evaluating evidence on public health interventions

Some policy decisions can only be monitored/evaluated/assessed in a retrospective analysis. Thinking in the way of the public health action cycle or any quality improvement cycle - plan-do - study-act.

You could also focus on the quality of the political decision making.

Pathways to “Evidence-Informed” Policy and Practice: A Framework for Action

Shelley Bowen*, Anthony B. Zwi

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0020166.g001

or

HEALTH RESEARCH POLICY AND SYSTEMS

Contents of Volume 7 Suppl 1

SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP)

Guides

Edited by Andy Oxman and Stephen Hanney

http://health-policy-systems.com/supplements/7/S1

There also the other parts of this supplement are very instructive if you are more interested in the effectiveness or evidence base of a decision.

http://health-policy-systems.com/supplements/7/S1

Dear Alaa

You already have some excellent suggestions. However, as you will be aware, most health policies are never evaluated because they are introduced to meet short-term needs, and all too often they conflict (in part) with policies that are already in place, hence destined not to be able to achieve the desired goal.

If it helps, I have written on practical aspects of doing policy analysis, with a focus on the underpinning ethics. See Chap. 4 Health Policy and Ethics - A critical examination of values from a global perspective. Worthington & Rohbaugh. Radcliffe Publishing 2011. ISBN 9781846193101.

Good luck!

Roger

In the end it all boils down to money and power, influence and interests, doesn't it? We've been trying to look at health policy developments in a disciplined, structured fashion, combining retrospective analysis with a context analysis (triggers, windows of opportunity, pain points), complete with expert assessments of likely policy outcomes, or legislative departures from the originally laid out intentions (policy paper, draft bill) as well as analyses of how the sausage factory really works (what goes in doesn't quite come out). Check out the www.healthpolicymonitor.org site for more (now archived, project was phased out and passed over to the European Observatory).

At the time we were inspired by Michael Reich's Political Mapping approach (Harvard), but needed something less academic so made it simpler.

www.healthpolicymonitor.org

Some are the same as for any policy. One might ask:

1. Cui bono? ('To whom the good?) i.e. what are the motives for it? Who gains, what do they hope to gain, and at whose expense? (As Sophia Schlette says, 'In the end it all boils down to money and power, influence and interests, doesn't it?')

2. By what mechanisms are the policy-makers proposed to achieve these aims? Often a harder question than it sounds because policy advocates do not always explain this (either they don't know or they don't want to say: see point 1).

3. What is the evidence that their proposed mechanisms will actually produce the intended outcomes? This is where evidence-based XYZ (substitute 'medicine', 'teaching', 'crime-control' etc. as relevant) comes in.

4. What context or circumstances are required for it to work as planned? A good modern framework for do this sort of analysis is realistic evaluation - See Pawson & Tilley's book of that name. For analysis of existing data see the attached.

5. And, of course, are the relevant actors able and willing to implement it anyway? (Is it feasible? Will there be resistance? Etc.)

This article might be helpful: Health policy analysis: a tool to evaluate in policy documents the alignment between policy statements and intended outcomes.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21108900