Whole systems approaches to physical activity: reflections of embedded researchers

Whole systems approaches are becoming more popular in response to complex public health issues such as obesity and physical activity. Embedded researchers are increasingly common, sitting in host organisations to help understand mechanisms for change and develop a culture of improvement. But what is it like to be one of these researchers?

A new paper published in a special edition of the journal Systems explores this question. Dr James Nobles, Research Fellow at ARC West, is one of the authors. He was an embedded researcher at Active Gloucestershire, helping develop and evaluate we can move. Along with four other researchers with experience of this relatively new way of working, the paper presents reflections and recommendations from their collective experience.

The authors identified four themes which they explore in detail in the paper:

1. The role of an embedded researcher within a whole systems approach
2. Expanding our researcher skill set
3. Grappling with the boundaries of the system and evaluation
4. Managing competing (and sometimes conflicting) agendas

They also identify recommendations for both researchers and those who are commissioning them. These include setting expectations, making space for debriefing and reflection, maintaining impartiality and being ready for academic processes to take time.

James said:

“It was a real treat to be an embedded researcher whilst evaluating the we can move programme in Gloucestershire. This approach was completely new to me and was rather a daunting prospect at the beginning.

“However, after a few days of working in the host organisation, Active Gloucestershire, and starting to develop relationships with the team there, it became very apparent how this embedded role could really benefit the evaluation. I got a true sense of what we can move was aiming to achieve and how it worked. This allowed us to make adaptations to the evaluation over time to better capture what was happening on the ground.

“The role also meant that we could feed our findings back to the organisation, and their partners, continuously throughout the evaluation period. The opportunity to reflect on this role, with four other brilliant colleagues, meant that we could share our experiences with other prospective embedded researchers.”