Grant: Operating Grant: Knowledge to Action

Depression is a serious disorder but it is under-treated during pregnancy. There are challenges to Knowledge Translation (KT) in the area of antidepressant exposure during pregnancy including conflicting research results and physicians' lack of synthesized evidence-based resources. In a previous phase of our program of research, we created a Physician Reference Guide (KT tool) to bridge the knowledge to action gap, identified by both knowledge-users and our previous synthesis of research literature regarding antidepressant medication use during pregnancy. Our aim is to facilitate consistent and evidence-based discussions with patients in the treatment planning process with the use of the KT tool. In the proposed project, we plan to implement the KT tool with knowledge-users of three different medical specialties to evaluate its impact. The implementation process with physicians of various specialties will also further our understanding of how the knowledge to action gap may be successfully bridged in this area of complex and mixed scientific evidence in order to improve patient care. Our proposed research plan includes both short and long term dissemination strategies. These objectives are aligned with accelerating the application of scientific evidence and enhancing our understanding of knowledge application to improve the health of Canadians.