Abstract
Knowledge brokers (KBs) can help promote the uptake of the latest research evidence into clinical practice. Little is known about who they are, the types of roles they perform, and the training they receive. Establishing a portrait of Canadian KBs working in the rehabilitation sector may inform health care organizations and knowledge translation specialists on how best to advance KBs practices. The overall goal was to describe the profile of KBs working to promote the uptake of evidence within rehabilitation settings in Canada. Specifically, this study aimed to describe the sociodemographic and professional characteristics, work activities, and training of KBs. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to KBs working in rehabilitation settings across Canada. The survey included 20 questions covering sociodemographic and professional characteristics, work activities, and training opportunities. Response frequency and percentage were calculated for all categorical variables, and the weighted average (WA) for each role was calculated across participants. Descriptive analysis was conducted for all open-ended questions. Of 475 participants accessing the website, 198 completed the survey questionnaire, including 99 clinicians, 35 researchers, and 26 managers. While over two-thirds of respondents had completed a graduate degree, only 38% reported receiving KBs-related training. The respondents' primary roles corresponded to a linking agent (WA=1.84), followed by capacity builder (WA=1.76), information manager (WA=1.71), facilitator (WA=1.41), and evaluator (WA=1.32). KBs are mostly expert clinicians who tend to perform brokering activities part-time targeting their peers. Participants mostly perform the linking agent, capacity builder, and information roles. Moreover, only a few participants received formal training to perform brokering activities.
Highlights
Knowledge brokers (KBs) can help promote the uptake of the latest research evidence into clinical practice
Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses have reported on the effectiveness of Knowledge translation (KT) interventions for promoting evidence-based practices (EBP). [5,6,7,8,9,10,11] Overall, the use of passive KT interventions such as dissemination of printed educational materials (PEMs) [12] and professional educational conferences [9] show a 2–6% absolute improvement in professional practice compared to no intervention
182 participants completed all sections of the survey (49% completion rate), data from 198 respondents answering at least one of the knowledge brokering activities’ section of the survey were included in the final analysis (Fig. 1)
Summary
Knowledge brokers (KBs) can help promote the uptake of the latest research evidence into clinical practice. This study aimed to describe the sociodemographic and professional characteristics, work activities, and training of KBs. Health care administrators and decision-makers emphasize the importance of evidence-based practices (EBP) as a means to improve efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery. While there is evidence that KBs help reduce research-practice gap, [19, 41, 45, 47,48,49,50,51,52,53, 58,59,60,61,62] studies have found that there is a the lack of knowledge about the personal and professional characteristics of KBs in the rehabilitation context, [55] their specific work activities, [40, 63] and the type of training that they have received to perform their role. Robust research is needed in order to 1) guide researchers who aim to utilize KBs in rehabilitation settings, 2) help employers to optimize the integration of KBs in rehabilitation settings, and 3) benefit KBs themselves by providing a clearer understanding of the various roles and activities they may perform to better achieve the targeted outcomes
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