Development of a knowledge translation taxonomy in the field of health prevention: a participative study between researchers, decision-makers and field professionals

Aurélie Affret,Marion Porcherie,Linda Cambon,Olivier Aromatario,Ollivier Prigent

doi:10.1186/s12961-020-00602-z

Abstract

ObjectivesThe current literature lacks a detailed and standardised description of public health knowledge translation (KT) activities designed to be applied at local levels of health systems. As part of an ongoing research project called the Transfert de connaissances en regions (TC-REG project), we aim to develop a local KT taxonomy in the field of health prevention by means of a participative study between researchers, decision-makers and field professionals. This KT taxonomy provides a comparative description of existing local health prevention KT strategies.MethodsTwo methods were used to design a participative process conducted in France to develop the taxonomy, combining professional meetings (two seminars) and qualitative interviews. The first step involved organising a seminar in Paris, attended by health prevention professionals from health agencies in four regions of France and regional non-profit organisations for health education and promotion. This led to the drafting of regional KT plans to be implemented in the four regions. In a second step, we conducted interviews to obtain a clear understanding of the KT activities implemented in the regions. Based on data from interviews, a KT taxonomy was drawn up and discussed during a second seminar.ResultsOur work resulted in a KT taxonomy composed of 35 standardised KT activities, grouped into 11 categories of KT activities, e.g. dissemination of evidence, support for use of evidence through processes and structures, KT advocacy, and so on.ConclusionsThe taxonomy appears to be a promising tool for developing and evaluating KT plans for health prevention in local contexts by providing some concrete examples of potential KT activities (advocacy) and a comparison of the same activities and their outcomes (evaluation).

Highlights

Emerging evidence points to a consensual need for more evidence-informed public health knowledge translation (KT) practices given the opportunities arising from thisAffret et al Health Research Policy and Systems (2020) 18:91 case study of a KT plan in the field of health prevention, based on a realistic approach [3, 4]
Most of them deal with generalist frameworks, such as those described by Milat et al [20] (e.g. KTA and PARISH), omitting to mention some KT specific activities or whether any taxonomies exist for them
Step 1: the contextualised KT plans Based on the data set out in Table 2 and according to the regional contexts, four KT plans were developed by the Agence Régionale de Santé (ARS) and IREPS professionals involved in the TCREG project, i.e. one contextualised KT plan per region

Summary

Introduction

Emerging evidence points to a consensual need for more evidence-informed public health knowledge translation (KT) practices given the opportunities arising from thisAffret et al Health Research Policy and Systems (2020) 18:91 case study of a KT plan in the field of health prevention, based on a realistic approach [3, 4]. Most of them deal with generalist frameworks, such as those described by Milat et al [20] (e.g. KTA and PARISH), omitting to mention some KT specific activities or whether any taxonomies exist for them. These generalist frameworks are mostly (1) healthcare focused (e.g. nursing, obesity treatment) [21, 22], (2) patient focused [23], (3) strategy focused [22] or (4) objective or mechanism focused [22, 24]

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Conclusion