Bridging policy and implementation science: operationalising political and structural determinants for health policy implementation evaluation

Background

Despite their critical role in shaping public health policy implementation, key political and structural determinants within implementation frameworks are often poorly defined, underreported, or treated as background rather than as core implementation variables. Existing implementation science frameworks acknowledge these determinants, they lack systematic, operationalised guidance for reporting them, resulting in limited explanatory power, poor comparability, and an overemphasis on individual-level factors.