Table 1

Coding framework being applied during stage 1 of the project

Coding focus	Nodes/categories	Explanation
Framing of the discussion The process for coding the framing of the document content is drawn from What’s the Problem Represented to be? approach to policy analysis.58 59 All introductory sections of documents are coded to capture the perspectives being applied by the sector. Introductory sections are those that precede dedicated discussion of goals, strategies and objectives in the policy document, excluding the contents pages.	What is the problem represented to be?	Text that explicitly or implicitly demonstrates what the authors of the document consider to be the problem/issue that needs to be addressed by the particular policy document or Act that is being coded.
	What response is considered appropriate by the government?	Text that highlights what the government thinks is necessary to address the problem/issue identified above, that is, what is the policy/Act designed to do?
	What else needs to be addressed?	Text that highlights what else the government considers to be problematic, even though these problems/issues may be outside the scope of the particular policy/Act being coded.
	How does the sector understand the relationships between their work and health and equity?	Text that highlights explicitly or implicitly how the authors of the document understand the connections between the work of their sector and the health and/or equity of the population.
	Strength	What is identified by the government as an existing strength in the policy area.
Determine the focus of the goals, objectives and strategies contained within the document. Definitions: Goal: Wording in the document describing what the government wishes to achieve overall (the ultimate desired outcome overall, often phrased as broad statements). Objective: Wording in the document that describes, more specifically, a particular improvement in performance that the government intends to achieve (a more specific statement than a goal statement—it indicates what is desired for a particular aspect of activity). Strategy: Wording describing a particular action that will be implemented within an area of government activity (ie, specific statements about what will be done).	Relates generally to health	All goal/objective/strategy statements that are consistent with a general focus on health but that do not mention a specific SDH from the list shown in box 1.
	Relates to a specific SDH	All goal/objective/strategy statements that include reference to a specific SDH from the list shown in box 1.
	Relates to equity	All goal/objective/strategy statements that are consistent with a focus on narrowing avoidable and unfair gaps between groups (a levelling up approach to equity), or on making improvements across the gradient of advantage/disadvantage (a gradient approach to equity).
	Other	Other goal/objective/strategy statements that are not related to health, equity or SDH.
Value statements Value statements are coded where they are listed explicitly under sections titled ‘values’ or ‘principles’ as well as within other text where values appear more implicitly. Values are important because how an issue is framed in a policy, and what actions are considered appropriate, depends on the values, ideas and judgements made by the people involved, those that circulate within the sector within which the policy is being written and within the broader political and bureaucratic contexts surrounding the policy (current and historical). As such values, ideas and judgements become structuring forces within policy development—however, sometimes they are implicit and their role in structuring discussion is not obvious.68 Since values shape how a policy is framed it is important to determine which values are being expressed both explicitly and implicitly, to understand how and why an issue is being represented in a particular way.	Relates generally to health	Value statement that reflects the importance of health in general.
	Relates to a specific SDH	Value statement that reflects the importance of a specific SDH listed in box 1.
	Relates to equity	Value statements that reflect the importance of equity or fairness.
	Other	Other value statement that is not related to health, equity or an SDH.
Evidence use to support claims Evidence use is determined through analysis of there being citations included in the documents. Instances in the document that explicitly refer to evidence use without a citation are also coded—such as ‘Evidence suggests that ….’ In addition, where the title of a document is included in a sentence but no formal citation is included, this is still coded as evidence. Exclusions: Sweeping statements such as ‘It is well known that…’ are not coded as reflecting evidence use if no formal citation or document reference is provided to support such sweeping statements.	Evidence—health	The citation/evidence reflects an explicit focus on health.
	Evidence—SDH	The citation/evidence appears to reflect a focus on one of the SDH in box 1.
	Evidence—equity	The citation/evidence reflects a focus on equity (levelling up approach or gradient focus).
	Other evidence—not related to health, equity or SDH	Evidence is cited/referred to in the document but does not appear relevant to the focus of this research.
Policy intent Involves an assessment of policy intent drawing on Margaret Whitehead’s typology60	Strengthen individuals	Statements that reflect the aim of strengthening individuals, using individually focused strategies.
	Strengthen communities	Statements that reflect the aim of strengthening communities through building social cohesion, capacity within communities and mutual support between community members.
	Improve living and working conditions	Statements that reflect the aim of changing the broader social and environmental conditions that people live and work in. This includes both social and physical environments, as well as the economic, cultural and political influences that shape those environments.
	Address socioeconomic inequities	Statements that reflect an explicit intent to directly change the distribution of resources—rather than to provide once off alms or reactive band-aid solutions.
Collaboration Includes references to the importance of intersectoral, private sector or community collaboration.	Collaboration—intersectoral	References to the importance of collaborating within and across the departments/sectors of governments. Also includes statements about the importance of the different levels of government working together.
	Collaboration—private sector involvement	References to the importance of collaborating with private sector organisations.
	Collaboration—community involvement	References to the importance of involving/consulting with the community as a whole or subgroups within the community.
Explicit references to key groups and concepts within the documents	Mention of—Aboriginal Australians or Torres Straight Islanders	Any sentence where an explicit reference to Aboriginal Australians or Torres Straight Islanders appears is coded.
	Mention of—health word	Any sentence where the following word/s is mentioned: health, well-being, fitness, fit, illness, disease, wellness, equity, inequity, equality, inequality is coded.
Mentions of other related documents	Policy document	All references to other policies are coded.
	Act	All references to other Acts/legislation are coded.
	Other related document	All references to related documents that are mentioned in the policy/Act are coded (eg, guides/handbooks, etc).

SDH, social determinants of health.