What role can ‘health decision-makers’ play in supporting knowledge translation of health and medical research?

Laura Collie; Andrew Milat; Anurag Sharma; Siaw-Teng Liaw; Marianne Gale

doi:10.1071/phrp3422413

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Next Contents Vol 34(2)

What role can ‘health decision-makers’ play in supporting knowledge translation of health and medical research?

Laura Collie ^A ^B ^* , Andrew Milat ^C , Anurag Sharma ^B , Siaw-Teng Liaw ^B and Marianne Gale ^D

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Office for Health and Medical Research, NSW Ministry of Health, Sydney, Australia

^B School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, Australia

^C Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health, Sydney, Australia

^D South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, NSW, Australia

^* Correspondence to: laura.collie@health.nsw.gov.au

Public Health Research and Practice 34, e3422413 https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp3422413

Published: 19 June 2024

2024 © Collie et al. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence, which allows others to redistribute, adapt and share this work non-commercially provided they attribute the work and any adapted version of it is distributed under the same Creative Commons licence terms.

Abstract

Embedding research users into the research process can better support its translation into health systems and services. Still, the role of health decision-makers (HDMs) as research partners is poorly understood. HDMs, such as policymakers, administrators, directors or other managers, understand the broader contexts of a health service and have a mandate to facilitate change where appropriate, so they could play an important partnership role in research activities.

References

1 Morris Z, Wooding S, Grant J. The answer is 17 years, what is the question: understanding time lags in translational research. J R Soc Med. 2011;104(12):510–20. Crossref | PubMed

2 Graham I, Kothari A, McCutcheon C. Moving knowledge into action for more effective practice, programmes and policy: protocol for a research programme on integrated knowledge translation. Implement Science. 2018;13:22. Crossref | PubMed

3 Moher D, Glasziou P, Chalmers I, Nasser M, Bossuyt P, Korevaar D, et al. Increasing value and reducing waste in biomedical research: who’s listening? Lancet. 2016;387(10027):1573–86. Crossref | PubMed

4 Moberg J, Oxman A, Rosenbaum S, Schunemann H, Guyatt G, Flottorp S et al. The GRADE Evidence to Decision (EtD) framework for health system and public health decisions, Health Res Policy Syst. 2018;16(1):45. Crossref | PubMed

5 Graham I, McCutcheon C, Kothari A. Exploring the frontiers of research co-production: the Integrated Knowledge Translation Research Network concept papers. Health Res Policy Syst. 2019;17:88. Crossref | PubMed

6 Dobbins M, Jack S, Thomas H, Kothari A. Public health decision-makers’ information needs and preferences for receiving research evidence. Worldviews Evid Based Nurs. 2007;4(3)156–63. Crossref | PubMed

7 Collie L, Haines M. TRGS Round 1 Post-research implementation assessment. Overall report and findings. Sydney: NSW Government; March 2019 [cited 2024 Apr 8]. Available from: www.medicalresearch.nsw.gov.au/app/uploads/2019/09/TRGS-Round-1_Post-research-Implementation-Assessment.pdf

8 Greenhalgh R, Wieringa S, Is it time to drop the ’knowledge translation’ metaphor? A critical literature review. J R Soc Med. 2011;104(12):501–9. Crossref | PubMed

9 Grimshaw J, Eccles M, Lavis J, Hill S, Squires J. Knowledge translation of research findings. Implement Sci. 2012;7:50. Crossref | PubMed

10 Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Priority Areas. Knowledge mobilization. Canada: Government of Canada; 2016 [cited 2023 Sep 26]. Available from: cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/29418.html

11 Graham I, Logan J, Harrison M, Straus S, Tetroe J, Caswell W, et al. Lost in knowledge translation: time for a map? J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2006;26(1)13–24. Crossref | PubMed

12 Milat A, Li B. Narrative review of frameworks for translating research evidence into policy and practice. Public Health Res Pract. 2017;27(1):e2711704. Crossref | PubMed

13 Jessani N, Siddiqi S, Babcock C, Davey-Rothwell M, Ho S, Holtgrave D et al. Factors affecting engagement between academic faculty and decision-makers: learning and priorities for a school of public health. Health Res Policy Syst. 2018;16(1):65. Crossref | PubMed

14 Oliver K, Kothari A, May N. The dark side of coproduction: do the costs outweigh the benefits for health research. Health Res Policy Syst. 2019;17:33. Crossref | PubMed

15 Bargain O, Aminjonov U. Trust and compliance to public health policies in times of COVID-19. J Public Econ. 2020;192:104316. Crossref | PubMed

16 Cheetham M, Wiseman A, Khazaeli B, Gibson E, Gray P, Van der Graaf P et al. Embedded research: a promising way to create evidence-informed impact in public health? J Public Health (Oxf). 2018;40(suppl_1):i64–i70. Crossref | PubMed

17 Wiles L, Kay D, Luker J, Worley A, Austin J, Ball A et al. Consumer engagement in health care policy, research and services: a systematic review and meta-analysis of methods and effects. PLoS One. 2022;17(1):e0261808. Crossref | PubMed

18 Farley-Ripple E, Oliver K, Boaz A. Mapping the community: use of research evidence in policy and practice. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 2020;7(83). Crossref

19 Kothari A, McCutcheon C, Graham I, Network IR. Defining integrated knowledge translation and moving forward: a response to recent commentaries. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2017;6(5):299–300. Crossref | PubMed