TY - JOUR
T1 - Moving knowledge into action for more effective practice, programmes and policy
T2 - Protocol for a research programme on integrated knowledge translation
AU - On behalf of the Integrated Knowledge Translation Research Network Project Leads
AU - Graham, Ian D.
AU - Kothari, Anita
AU - McCutcheon, Chris
AU - Alvarez, Gonzalo
AU - Banner, Davina
AU - Botti, Mari
AU - Bucknall, Tracey
AU - Botting, Ingrid
AU - Considine, Julie
AU - Duke, Maxine
AU - Dunn, Sandra
AU - Dunning, Trisha
AU - Gagliardi, Anna
AU - Gainforth, Heather
AU - Gifford, Wendy
AU - Harlos, Karen
AU - Horsley, Tanya
AU - Hutchinson, Alison
AU - Kastner, Monika
AU - Kreindler, Sara
AU - Li, Linda
AU - MacLeod, Martha
AU - Manias, Elizabeth
AU - Mitchell, Jonathan
AU - Montini, Theresa
AU - Pakhale, Smita
AU - Pearson, Mark
AU - Rasmussen, Bodil
AU - Rycroft-Malone, Jo
AU - Salbach, Nancy
AU - Salsberg, Jonathan
AU - Sibbald, Shannon
AU - Sibley, Kathryn
AU - Stacey, Dawn
AU - Van Spall, Harriette
AU - Watson, Margaret
AU - Williamson, Anna
AU - Wright, David K.
AU - Yeung, Euson
AU - Jenkins, Emily
AU - Bahrani, Sayna
AU - Bell, Fraser
AU - Boland, Laura
AU - Hamilton, Clayon
AU - Jull, Janet
AU - Leese, Jesse
AU - MacDonald, Graham
AU - McLean, Robert K.D.
AU - Mrklas, Kelly
AU - Nguyen, Tram
PY - 2018/2/2
Y1 - 2018/2/2
N2 - Background: Health research is conducted with the expectation that it advances knowledge and eventually translates into improved health systems and population health. However, research findings are often caught in the know-do gap: they are not acted upon in a timely way or not applied at all. Integrated knowledge translation (IKT) is advanced as a way to increase the relevance, applicability and impact of research. With IKT, knowledge users work with researchers throughout the research process, starting with identification of the research question. Knowledge users represent those who would be able to use research results to inform their decisions (e.g. clinicians, managers, policy makers, patients/families and others). Stakeholders are increasingly interested in the idea that IKT generates greater and faster societal impact. Stakeholders are all those who are interested in the use of research results but may not necessarily use them for their own decision-making (e.g. governments, funders, researchers, health system managers and policy makers, patients and clinicians). Although IKT is broadly accepted, the actual research supporting it is limited and there is uncertainty about how best to conduct and support IKT. This paper presents a protocol for a programme of research testing the assumption that engaging the users of research in phases of its production leads to (a) greater appreciation of and capacity to use research; (b) the production of more relevant, useful and applicable research that results in greater impact; and (c) conditions under which it is more likely that research results will influence policy, managerial and clinical decision-making. Methods: The research programme will adopt an interdisciplinary, international, cross-sector approach, using multiple and mixed methods to reflect the complex and social nature of research partnerships. We will use ongoing and future natural IKT experiments as multiple cases to study IKT in depth, and we will take advantage of the team's existing relationships with provincial, national and international organizations. Case studies will be retrospective and prospective, and the 7-year grant period will enable longitudinal studies. The initiation of partnerships, funding processes, the research lifecycle and then outcomes/impacts post project will be studied in real time. These living laboratories will also allow testing of strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the IKT approach. Discussion: This is the first interdisciplinary, systematic and programmatic research study on IKT. The research will provide scientific evidence on how to reliably and validly measure collaborative research partnerships and their impacts. The proposed research will build the science base for IKT, assess its relationship with research use and identify best practices and appropriate conditions for conducting IKT to achieve the greatest impact. It will also train and mentor the next generation of IKT researchers.
AB - Background: Health research is conducted with the expectation that it advances knowledge and eventually translates into improved health systems and population health. However, research findings are often caught in the know-do gap: they are not acted upon in a timely way or not applied at all. Integrated knowledge translation (IKT) is advanced as a way to increase the relevance, applicability and impact of research. With IKT, knowledge users work with researchers throughout the research process, starting with identification of the research question. Knowledge users represent those who would be able to use research results to inform their decisions (e.g. clinicians, managers, policy makers, patients/families and others). Stakeholders are increasingly interested in the idea that IKT generates greater and faster societal impact. Stakeholders are all those who are interested in the use of research results but may not necessarily use them for their own decision-making (e.g. governments, funders, researchers, health system managers and policy makers, patients and clinicians). Although IKT is broadly accepted, the actual research supporting it is limited and there is uncertainty about how best to conduct and support IKT. This paper presents a protocol for a programme of research testing the assumption that engaging the users of research in phases of its production leads to (a) greater appreciation of and capacity to use research; (b) the production of more relevant, useful and applicable research that results in greater impact; and (c) conditions under which it is more likely that research results will influence policy, managerial and clinical decision-making. Methods: The research programme will adopt an interdisciplinary, international, cross-sector approach, using multiple and mixed methods to reflect the complex and social nature of research partnerships. We will use ongoing and future natural IKT experiments as multiple cases to study IKT in depth, and we will take advantage of the team's existing relationships with provincial, national and international organizations. Case studies will be retrospective and prospective, and the 7-year grant period will enable longitudinal studies. The initiation of partnerships, funding processes, the research lifecycle and then outcomes/impacts post project will be studied in real time. These living laboratories will also allow testing of strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the IKT approach. Discussion: This is the first interdisciplinary, systematic and programmatic research study on IKT. The research will provide scientific evidence on how to reliably and validly measure collaborative research partnerships and their impacts. The proposed research will build the science base for IKT, assess its relationship with research use and identify best practices and appropriate conditions for conducting IKT to achieve the greatest impact. It will also train and mentor the next generation of IKT researchers.
KW - Collaborative research
KW - Implementation
KW - Integrated knowledge translation
KW - Knowledge mobilization
KW - Knowledge transfer
KW - Knowledge translation
KW - Participatory research
KW - Research co-production
KW - Research use
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85041629072&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s13012-017-0700-y
DO - 10.1186/s13012-017-0700-y
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85041629072
SN - 1748-5908
VL - 13
JO - Implementation Science
JF - Implementation Science
IS - 1
M1 - 22
ER -