Grant: CIHR New Investigator

Healthcare professionals' use of research is suboptimal despite increased awareness of and accessibility to research findings. Context is increasingly recognized as a central influence on research use and an important factor to be considered in knowledge translation interventions targeting healthcare professionals. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. The purpose of my research program is to improve healthcare professionals use of research and research-based behaviours by designing, implementing, and evaluating context-optimized interventions (i.e., that are tailored to and/or act on context). In the attached proposal, I will conduct an analysis of context to construct a definition of context and identify its key features important to research use by healthcare professionals. Three separate inquiries will be conducted. First, I will conduct a concept analysis of context as it is described in the literature. Second, I will complete a secondary analysis of qualitative data from 10 studies of healthcare professionals on the perceived contextual barriers and facilitators to their use of different research-based behaviours. Third, I will conduct semi-structured interviews with knowledge users to elicit their perceptions of a definition of context and its key features. A working definition(s) of context and a list of its key features important to healthcare professionals' use of research will be derived from this analysis. This will form the basis for discussion in an international consensus process. This project will enhance our understanding of context and identify a set of contextual key features important for knowledge translation targeting healthcare professionals. Subsequent projects in my program will include: a systematic review of existing measures of key features of context; assessment of the reporting of context; and testing of a contextually optimized intervention to improve healthcare professionals' use of research.