Abstract
BackgroundIn the ongoing effort to develop and advance the science of knowledge translation (KT), an important question has emerged around how theory should inform the development of KT interventions.DiscussionEfforts to employ theory to better understand and improve KT interventions have until recently mostly involved examining whether existing theories can be usefully applied to the KT context in question. In contrast to this general theory application approach, we propose a ‘menu of constructs’ approach, where individual constructs from any number of theories may be used to construct a new theory. By considering the entire menu of available constructs, rather than limiting choice to the broader level of theories, we can leverage knowledge from theories that would never on their own provide a complete picture of a KT intervention, but that nevertheless describe components or mechanisms relevant to it. We can also avoid being forced to adopt every construct from a particular theory in a one-size-fits-all manner, and instead tailor theory application efforts to the specifics of the situation. Using audit and feedback as an example KT intervention strategy, we describe a variety of constructs (two modes of reasoning, cognitive dissonance, feed forward, desirable difficulties and cognitive load, communities of practice, and adaptive expertise) from cognitive and educational psychology that make concrete suggestions about ways to improve this class of intervention.SummaryThe ‘menu of constructs’ notion suggests an approach whereby a wider range of theoretical constructs, including constructs from cognitive theories with scope that makes the immediate application to the new context challenging, may be employed to facilitate development of more effective KT interventions.
Highlights
In the ongoing effort to develop and advance the science of knowledge translation (KT), an important question has emerged around how theory should inform the development of KT interventions
Summary: The ‘menu of constructs’ notion suggests an approach whereby a wider range of theoretical constructs, including constructs from cognitive theories with scope that makes the immediate application to the new context challenging, may be employed to facilitate development of more effective KT interventions
Summary Our examples of theoretical constructs derived from cognitive and educational psychology all have one thing in common. They all stem from theories that, because of the context and/or level of abstraction at which they were originally developed, could not hope to provide anything like a full picture of an A&F intervention. These theories would generally not be considered relevant to KT interventions, because the context for which they were developed is so far removed from complex A&F interventions
Summary
In the ongoing effort to develop and advance the science of knowledge translation (KT), an important question has emerged around how theory should inform the development of KT interventions. Healthcare research costs over 100 billion dollars annually in North America alone [1,2]. This considerable investment yields important new knowledge that can significantly improve the health of patients and populations, provided that the knowledge is implemented appropriately. The techniques people have used to implement new knowledge have most often lacked any substantive. An important debate in this developing discipline pertains to the use of theory to understand the techniques and processes underlying KT. Some have argued that KT interventions are too heterogeneous for anything to be gained by trying to develop a generalizable theory [9,10]. The literature has largely subscribed to the arguments put forward by Eccles and others [3,11] that the benefits to be derived from theory in terms of generalizability of findings and standardization of methodology outweigh any risks
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