The impact and effectiveness of health impact assessment: A conceptual framework

The use of health impact assessment (HIA) has expanded rapidly and there are increasing demands for it to demonstrate its effectiveness. This paper presents a conceptual framework for evaluating HIA and describes its development through (i) a review of the literature, (ii) a review of work undertaken as part of a major HIA capacity building project and (iii) an in-depth study of seven completed HIAs. The framework emphasises context, process and impacts as key domains in understanding and evaluating the effectiveness of an HIA. This new framework builds upon the existing approaches to evaluating HIA and extends them to reflect the broad range of factors that comprise and influence the effectiveness of HIAs. It may be of use in evaluating completed HIAs and in planning HIAs that are yet to be undertaken.

► The first empirically-derived conceptual framework for evaluating HIA
► It may also be useful for planning and reporting on HIAs.
► The framework emphasises context, process and impacts as key domains.
► A broad range of factors influence the effectiveness of HIAs.