Knowledge Translation at CIHR - Dr. Ian D Graham
February 28 , 2007
Part 1 : What is Knowledge Translation?
It's all in the name
- Knowledge to action (KTA)
- Knowledge Transfer (KT)
- Knowledge Translation (KT)
- Research Use/Utilization
- Knowledge Exchange (KE)
- Commercialisation
KT terms used by 33 applied health research funding agencies
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*cited most frequently
Knowledge Transfer
"is about transferring good ideas, research results and skills between universities, other research organizations, business and the wider community to enable innovative new products and services to be developed."
UK Office of Science and Technology
Knowledge Exchange
" is collaborative problem-solving between researchers and decision makers that happens through linkage and exchange. Effective knowledge exchange involves interaction between decision makers and researchers and results in mutual learning through the process of planning, producing, disseminating, and applying existing or new research in decision-making."
Canadian Health Services Research Foundation
Research Use/Utilization
"process by which specific research-based knowledge (science) is implemented in practice."
Estabrooks et al 2003
"the exchange, synthesis and ethically-sound application of knowledge - within a complex system of interactions among researchers and users - to accelerate the capture of the benefits of research for Canadians through improved health, more effective services and products, and a strengthened health care system"
But what is it really?
Knowledge translation is about:
- Making users aware of knowledge and facilitating their use of it
- Closing the gap between what we know and what we do
- Moving knowledge into action
Knowledge translation research is about:
Studying the determinants of knowledge use and effective methods of promoting the uptake of knowledge
Why should we be concerned about KT in the health domain?
- Clinical research is consistently producing new findings that may contribute to effective and efficient patient care
- The findings of such research will not change population outcomes unless health services and health care professionals adopt them in practice.
Grimshaw, Ward, Eccles. Oxford Handbook of Public Health.
The research-practice/policy gap
Consistent evidence of failure to translate research findings into clinical practice
- 30-40% patients do not get treatments of proven effectiveness
- 20-25% patients get care that is not needed or potentially harmful
(Schuster, McGlynn, Brook, 1998; Grol R, (2001)
Cancer outcomes could be improved by 30% with optimum application of what is currently known
10% reduction in cancer mortality with widespread use of available therapies
(CSCC 2001; Ford et al, 1990)
Knowledge Translation is the bridge between discovery and impact
- Research outputs
- KT research and practice
- Research impacts
KT is about making a difference
What is involved in actually doing KT?
From :Graham et al: Lost in Knowledge Translation. Time for a Map?
Part Two : What is Knowledge Translation at CIHR?
What is involved in KT?
The model represents the full range of KT activities from dissemination of research results to their application in the real world
Two broad categories of KT at CIHR
- End of grant KT
- KT woven into the research process
(integrated/embedded KT)
End of grant KT
Broad spectrum of activities including:
- Diffusion/"researcher-push"
- Conference presentations
- Peer reviewed publications (Open access policy)
- Non-peer reviewed publications
- Website postings
Also includes:
Dissemination activities that tailor the message and medium to a specific audience (researcher-push/ user-pull)
- End of grant report to funders
- Summary/briefings to stakeholders
- Educational sessions with patients, practitioners and/or policy makers
- Engaging end users in developing & executing dissemination/implementation plan
- Commercialization efforts
- Tools creation
- Media engagement
- Use of knowledge brokers
End of grant KT Efforts
Related to:
- Potential importance/impact of using the findings
- Strength of the evidence supporting the findings
- Target audience(s)
- What is known about effective strategies to reach the audience(s)
- What is practical and feasible to do
- Who else should be involved in KT efforts
What is integrated KT?
- a way of doing research
- collaborative research, action-oriented, co-production of knowledge (engaging researchers and stakeholders (end-users)
- involves integrating stakeholders into the entire research process study stakeholders can be:
- Investigators from different disciplines, teams, countries
- Policy makers, decision makers, research funders, the public, clinicians, the media
What is integrated KT? The role of stakeholders
They can be involved in:
- Shaping the research questions
- Deciding on the methodology
- Helping with data collection and tools development
- Interpreting the study findings
- Crafting the message and disseminating the research results
- Moving the results into practice
Should every researcher be involved in integrated KT?
NO - not necessarily. For many researchers, disseminating research results to the appropriate audience (this includes other researchers) is usually sufficient. In some cases, more intense knowledge translation is warranted to roll out the results of research proven to be effective. This more intense form of KT could take place at the end of the grant, or in a more integrated fashion, depending on the circumstances. Synthesis is an important part of our definition of KT - results from a single research study should be contextualized within a synthesis of global research results before extra-ordinary efforts undertaken to widely disseminate and/or implemented.
Part Three : Plans for the Knowledge Translation Portfolio
Next steps for the KT Portfolio
- Consolidate KT, Partnerships and Evaluation staff under the portfolio
- Understand SDs' and Institutes' issues and concerns about KT, Partnerships and Evaluation
- Meet with SDs, IRT, Attend some IAB meetings
- Develop working relationships with institute-based KT, partnership, and evaluation experts
The Partnership Branch
- Redefine the role of the Branch to reflect organizational changes (new portfolio, integrate with KT framework, manage pan-CIHR partnerships etc.)
- Develop new initiative around Citizen Engagement including tools and resources for the Institutes
- Develop "Principles of Engagement" for Partners to streamline processes particularly around relevancy review.
Next steps for the KT Branch
- Branch name change
- (Knowledge Synthesis and Exchange Branch)
- Pan-CIHR KT Casebooks (launch coming soon)
- opportunity to showcase the success stories of all the Institutes
- opportunity to further our understanding of KT by seeing successful as well as less successful cases
KT Related Funding and Award Opportunities
- Institute strategic initiatives (integrated KT)
- KT workshop and symposium opportunities
- Partnerships in Health Services Innovation (PHSI) (integrated KT and EGKT)
- Knowledge to Action strategic initiative (integrated KT and EGKT)*
- Synthesis RFA (integrated KT)*
- KT award - regional and national
- Fellowship priority announcements*
- Knowledge Translation
- Health communications
- Dec 2006 launch
The Evaluation and Analysis Branch
- Staff up three units: Evaluation, Data and Analysis, and Impacts Assessment
- Implement End-of-grant reporting system
- Develop new research classification system
- Plan for full range of priority evaluations over next five years; finalize STIHR, CGS evaluations and integrated report of Institute evaluations
- Implement End-of-grant reporting system
- Finalize and implement framework to measure and report on longer term impacts of health research
Merci- Thank you