Abstract
BackgroundKnowledge translation (KT) is currently endorsed by global health policy actors as a means to improve outcomes by institutionalising evidence-informed policy-making. Organisational knowledge brokers, comprised of researchers, policy-makers and other stakeholders, are increasingly being used to undertake and promote KT at all levels of health policy-making, though few resources exist to guide the evaluation of these efforts. Using a scoping review methodology, we identified, synthesised and assessed indicators that have been used to evaluate KT infrastructure and capacity-building activities in a health policy context in order to inform the evaluation of organisational knowledge brokers.MethodsA scoping review methodology was used. This included the search of Medline, Global Health and the WHO Library databases for studies regarding the evaluation of KT infrastructure and capacity-building activities between health research and policy, published in English from 2005 to 2016. Data on study characteristics, outputs and outcomes measured, related indicators, mode of verification, duration and/or frequency of collection, indicator methods, KT model, and targeted capacity level were extracted and charted for analysis.ResultsA total of 1073 unique articles were obtained and 176 articles were qualified to be screened in full-text; 32 articles were included in the analysis. Of a total 213 indicators extracted, we identified 174 (174/213; 81.7%) indicators to evaluate the KT infrastructure and capacity-building that have been developed using methods beyond expert opinion. Four validated instruments were identified. The 174 indicators are presented in 8 domains based on an adaptation of the domains of the Lavis et al. framework of linking research to action – general climate, production of research, push efforts, pull efforts, exchange efforts, integrated efforts, evaluation and capacity-building.ConclusionThis review presents a total of 174 method-based indicators to evaluate KT infrastructure and capacity-building. The presented indicators can be used or adapted globally by organisational knowledge brokers and other stakeholders in their monitoring and evaluation work.
Highlights
Knowledge translation (KT) is currently endorsed by global health policy actors as a means to improve outcomes by institutionalising evidence-informed policy-making
The inclusion criteria consisted of (1) studies published in English language, from January 1, 2005, through December 31, 2016; (2) studies that evaluated KT infrastructure or capacitybuilding efforts between research and policy-making, only
Due to the heterogeneity of the topic, the review was limited to the research–policy gap, though other forms of KT between researchers, communities, patients and clinicians could contribute useful indicators and/or perspectives; and (3) studies conducted on the macro scale, which was defined as an administrative geographical level of policy-making or research activity occurring at the national or supranational level
Summary
Knowledge translation (KT) is currently endorsed by global health policy actors as a means to improve outcomes by institutionalising evidence-informed policy-making. The framework provides four key domains to guide countrylevel KT efforts, namely (1) the climate for research use; (2) the production of research that is both highly relevant to and appropriately synthesised for research users; (3) the mix of clusters of activities used to link research to action; and (4) the evaluation of efforts to link research to action [14]. Within their framework, Lavis et al classify KT activities into four models of push, pull, exchange and integrated efforts [14]
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