Building Trust and Trustworthiness in Public Institutions: Essential Elements in Placing Trust at the Heart of Health Policy and Systems; Comment on “Placing Trust at the Heart of Health Policy and Systems”

Articles in Press

Document Type : Commentary

Author

Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

Abstract

In this commentary, I argue that societies are facing major crises in trust that extends well beyond health systems, outlining actions that can enhance trust in public institutions and benefit health systems. There are also areas where strengthening health systems can serve to build broader trust and social cohesion, such as by providing social protection and health services that are responsive to people’s needs. Understanding the dimensions of “trustworthiness” for different actors in a health system also provide insights on how to build, restore, and maintain trust. Whereas research evidence claims a foundational role for trustworthy intervention among health professions, other factors may be more influential for others. These include the credibility of the source, participation in the intervention with observably fair distribution of the benefits, the ethical behavior of key actors, reliability in service delivery and its results, transparent and consistent communications, and addressing breaches in trust. 

Keywords

References

  1. McKee M, van Schalkwyk MC, Greenley R, Permanand G. Placing trust at the heart of health policy and systems. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024;13:8410. doi:34172/ijhpm.2024.8410
  2. Harrison McKnight D, Chervany NL. Trust and distrust definitions: one bite at a time. In: Falcone R, Singh M, Tan YH, eds. Trust in Cyber-Societies. Berlin: Springer; 2001:27-54. doi:1007/3-540-45547-7_3
  3. Colquitt JA, Scott BA, LePine JA. Trust, trustworthiness, and trust propensity: a meta-analytic test of their unique relationships with risk taking and job performance. J Appl Psychol. 2007;92(4):909-927. doi:1037/0021-9010.92.4.909
  4. Kramer RM. Trust and distrust in organizations: emerging perspectives, enduring questions. Annu Rev Psychol. 1999;50:569-598. doi:1146/annurev.psych.50.1.569
  5. United Nations Secretary General. Press Release. Strong Democratic Societies Can Enable Non-Violent Change, Secretary-General Tells Summit, Calling for New Social Contract between Governments, Their People. UN Press; 2023. https://press.un.org/en/2023/sgsm21752.doc.htm. Accessed August 26, 2024.
  6. Wike R, Fetterol J. Global Public Opinion in an Era of Democratic Anxiety. The Pew Charitable Trusts; 2022. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/trust/archive/spring-2022/global-public-opinion-in-an-era-of-democratic-anxiety.
  7. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. The Global State of Democracy 2019: Addressing the Ills, Reviving the Promise. https://www.idea.int/publications/catalogue/summary-global-state-of-democracy-2019?lang=en.
  8. 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer: Navigating a Polarized World. https://www.edelman.com/trust/2023/trust-barometer.
  9. Wellcome Global Monitor 2020: COVID-19. How COVID-19 Affected People’s Lives and Their Views About Science. https://wellcome.org/reports/wellcome-global-monitor-covid-19/2020.
  10. Edward A, Kumar B, Kakar F, Salehi AS, Burnham G, Peters DH. Configuring balanced scorecards for measuring health system performance: evidence from 5 years' evaluation in Afghanistan. PLoS Med. 2011;8(7):e1001066. doi:1371/journal.pmed.1001066
  11. 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust and Health. https://www.edelman.com/trust/22/special-report-trust-in-health.
  12. Open Government Partnership Secretariat. Open Government Partnership Global Report: Democracy Beyond the Ballot Box. 2019. https://www.opengovpartnership.org/campaigns/global-report/#downloads.
  13. Haenssgen MJ, Elliott EM, Phommachanh S, Souksavanh O, Okabayashi H, Kubota S. Community engagement for stakeholder and community trust in healthcare: short-term evaluation findings from a nationwide initiative in Lao PDR. Soc Sci Med. 2024;354:117079. doi:1016/j.socscimed.2024.117079
  14. Sackett DL. Evidence-based medicine. Semin Perinatol. 1997;21(1):3-5. doi:1016/s0146-0005(97)80013-4
  15. Brownson RC, Baker EA, Leat TL, et al. Evidence-Based Public Health. Oxford University Press; 2003.
  16. Barends E, Rousseau DM. Evidence-Based Management: How to Use Evidence to Make Better Organizational Decisions. New York: Kogan Page Publishers; 2018.
  17. Pew Research Center. Social Media Seen as Mostly Good for Democracy Across Many Nations, But U.S. is a Major Outlier. 2022. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/12/06/social-media-seen-as-mostly-good-for-democracy-across-many-nations-but-u-s-is-a-major-outlier/.
International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 18 September 2024

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 30 August 2024
  • Revise Date: 15 September 2024
  • Accept Date: 17 September 2024
  • First Publish Date: 18 September 2024

Share

How to cite

Statistics