Quality of Social and Behavioural Sciences Policy Briefs during a Global Health Crisis: A Multi-country Analysis

Scientific advice from the social and behavioural sciences (SBS) can help make public health policies more effective and mitigate the societal impact of major infectious disease outbreaks. This study critically examines the quality of policy briefs from European SBS advisory bodies written during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two researchers independently scored 117 policy briefs from 4 countries using the newly-developed 25-item Policy Brief Checklist. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the results. We found considerable heterogeneity in the quality of policy briefs. Key items like the summary, aim, policy problem addressed, and actionability of the recommendations were adequate in 34% to 59% of policy briefs. Policy briefs containing urgent advice scored better than less urgent briefs on some items (e.g. clear aim) but worse on others (e.g. explication of the policy problem). Hence, although challenging in the high-pressure context of a pandemic, the impact of SBS policy advice during a major infectious disease outbreak could potentially be enhanced if advisory bodies improve the quality of their policy briefs. We recommend that SBS advisory body develop crisis-specific policy brief templates that meet the needs of the advisory body and policymakers, and invest in training so that scientific insights are presented more effectively.