ABSTRACT

Despite the increase in global research on health inequalities, more needs to be done to strengthen efforts to inform local interventions. In this article, we ask what determines the local capacity to engage in research on health inequalities. A bibliometric analysis identified Spain as the 10th highest global contributor to this research field (1966–2015), yet a significant proportion of this production was affiliated to just a few institutions in Barcelona. How and why has the city produced so much health inequalities research over four decades? A realist explanatory case study was conducted to test and refine six causal mechanisms, and identify the contextual conditions that might have activated them to generate this outcome. Data was triangulated from 10 semi-structured interviews, and scientific and grey literature. Our findings confirmed that several of our proposed mechanisms - functioning under certain conditions over time - explain the large volume of health inequalities research in Barcelona. Based on these findings, key lessons from the city's experience are suggested. Further research is needed on this topic.

摘要

尽管全球对健康不平等的研究有所增加，但还需要做更多工作来加强为地方干预措施提供信息的努力。在这篇文章中，我们询问是什么决定了当地参与健康不平等研究的能力。一项文献计量分析确定西班牙是该研究领域（1966-2015 年）全球第 10 大贡献者，但这一成果的很大一部分与巴塞罗那的少数机构有关。四十年来，这座城市如何以及为何开展了如此多的健康不平等研究？进行了现实主义解释性案例研究，以测试和完善六种因果机制，并确定可能激活它们以产生此结果的背景条件。数据来自 10 次半结构化访谈以及科学和灰色文献。我们的研究结果证实，我们提出的几个机制——在特定条件下随着时间的推移发挥作用——解释了巴塞罗那大量的健康不平等研究。根据这些调查结果，我们提出了城市经验的主要教训。需要对该主题进行进一步研究。