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Practices and Plans for Knowledge Translation at NeuroDevNet
Abstract
Knowledge translation at NeuroDevNet, a new Canadian Network of Centres of Excellence focused on brain development, is a core service that spans its 3 demonstration projects: research programs in cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and integrated as a network-wide activity. This article describes the results of an environmental scan of NeuroDevNet members using a survey of their existing practices and needs completed by 30% of NeuroDevNet's members (n = 36/120) and key informant interviews with 14 members. Results suggest that most members are somewhat engaged in a number of knowledge translation activities although they tend to be traditional ones, such as attending conferences and giving presentations to other researchers. There is very little in the way of public engagement or consumer-focused activities. It also describes activities underway at the Cerebral Palsy Demonstration Project. This scan is helping members of NeuroDevNet's knowledge translation core plan and prioritize services and activities within NeuroDevNet.
... We have experience with integrated community-university KT strategies, which have generated practice and policy change [107][108][109][110], and we will apply what we have learned [111,112]. The inclusion of knowledge users/decision-makers as members of the research team will facilitate evidence-informed decision-making and integrated KTE. ...
Background
Good nutrition affects children’s health, well-being, and learning, and schools offer an important setting to promote healthy behaviors that can last a lifetime. Once children reach school age, they spend more of their waking hours in school than in any other environment. Children’s eating habits may be easier to influence than those of adults. In Canada, households with children are more likely to experience food insecurity, and school food programs that are universally available to all children can support the development of healthy eating patterns across groups of varying socioeconomic status. There is a significant gap in the rigorous community-engaged academic research on the impact of school meal programs, especially universal ones.
Objective
The aim of this population health intervention research is to study the impact of a 2-year universal, curriculum-integrated healthy school lunch program in elementary schools in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, on food consumption, dietary quality and food and nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices.
Methods
This population health intervention study will be conducted in 2 intervention elementary schools matched with 2 control schools. We will collect preintervention data, including objective measurements of food eaten at school and food-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. This will be followed by the intervention itself, along with qualitative case studies of the intervention process in the 2 intervention schools. Then, we will collect postintervention data similar to the preintervention data. Finally, we will finish the data analysis and complete the ongoing sharing of learning from the project.
Results
This study was funded in April 2020 but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, data collection did not begin until May 2021. The intervention will begin in September 2021 and end in June 2023, with end point data collection occurring in May and June 2023. The case study research will begin in September 2021 and will be ongoing for the duration of the intervention.
Conclusions
The opportunity we have to systematically and comprehensively study a curriculum-integrated school lunch program, as well as the promising practices for school food programs across Canada, is without precedent.
International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)
DERR1-10.2196/30899
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). Research on FASD has generally focused on challenges faced by this population while insight into strengths and quality of life has lagged. We introduce the “From Surviving to Thriving” model, which proposes a paradigm shift toward a strengths-based, holistic intervention approach to support thriving in people with FASD. Based on a focused intervention review, existing interventions for FASD incorporate many elements that are consistent with a strengths-based framework, such as inclusion of environmental accommodations and fortification of natural supports. However, a comprehensive strengths-based framework has yet to be fully realized, tested, or adopted in community settings. Important areas of growth remain and notable systems-level barriers need to be addressed. We propose six directions to advance interventions for FASD toward a more person-centered, strengths-based approach. These involve reduction of stigma, improved measurement of strengths and thriving, utilization of strengths-based frameworks, community knowledge translation, adaptation of existing, effective models for FASD, and increased efforts to reach underserved populations.
In the knowledge-to-action cycle, after the knowledge translation (KT) intervention has been implemented, knowledge use should be monitored. This step is necessary to determine how and to what extent the knowledge has diffused through the target decision maker groups. How we proceed to measure knowledge use depends on our definition of knowledge and knowledge use and on the perspective of the knowledge user. There are 65 strategies to study knowledge use and these have been categorized into naturalistic observation, content analysis, and questionnaires and interviews. While assessing knowledge use is important, its use is of particular interest if it influences important clinical measures such as quality indicators. Selection of our evaluation strategy depends on whether we want to enhance local knowledge or provide generalizable information on the validity of the KT intervention. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation strategies can help identify factors that can influence sustained knowledge use.
Conceptual, methodological, and practical issues await those who seek to understand how to make better use of health services research in developing public policy. Some policies and some policymaking processes may lend themselves particularly well to being informed by research. Different conclusions about the extent to which policymaking is informed by research may arise from different views about what constitutes health services research (is it citable research or any professional social inquiry that can aid in problem solving?) or different views about what constitutes research use (is it explicit uses of research only, or does it also include tacit knowledge or the positions of stakeholders when they are informed by research and are influential in the policymaking process?). Some conditions may favor the use of research in policymaking, like sustained interactions between researchers and policymakers. Results from an exploratory study on the use of health services research by Canadian provincial policymakers illustrate these issues.
Lessons Learned In Evidence in action, acting on evidence: A casebook of health services and policy research knowledge translation stories. Ottawa: Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Canadian Institutes
- Health Research
Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Lessons Learned. In Evidence in
action, acting on evidence: A casebook of health services and policy research
knowledge translation stories. Ottawa: Canadian Institutes of Health
Research, 2006. Available at: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/30660.
html. Accessed December 7, 2010