Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Research evidence is often not used to inform decisions about practice and policy, resulting in people not receiving optimal care. Similarly, research does not always align with the needs of policy makers or practitioners. Despite the ready availability of compelling evidence, there is often a wide gap between what we know from research and what we decide to do in policy or practice. Knowledge translation, or KT, involves strategies that move research evidence into action and is recognized as a leading approach to narrowing this gap. Over ninety different terms and definitions are used to describe what it is, what it is for, and the various dimensions it attempts to influence. There have been repeated efforts to understand what makes KT effective, with many pointing to the need for inclusive partnerships among stakeholders and roles that can foster relationships between people in practice, policy, and research. One strategy that fosters relationships for better KT is the development of platforms that serve to lessen the gaps between researchers, policy makers, and practitioners. These platforms are essentially places where people with advanced KT skills work to respond to the evidence or research needs of policy and practice in health systems. There is little systematic exploration of the role they play and how these platforms contribute to more consistent and meaningful use of research in healthcare practice and policy. The proposed study will explore what is written in academic journals, policy documents, or websites and then look at what people involved in at least four different knowledge translation platforms say about their experiences. The results of the study will help us to understand how these platforms make a difference in the way research is used or done in healthcare. The overall analysis will lead to a better understanding what works best to support using research in practice and policy decisions about healthcare.