Knowledge Transfer project Planning

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Knowledge Transfer project Planning

• 12-13 Aban 1389
• KTE-TUMS Group

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A five-step approach to knowledge transfer

1. Message (WHAT?)
2. Target Audience ( To WHOM?)
3. Messenger (BY WHOM?)
4. Knowledge transfer process and support system
   (HOW?)
5. Evaluation (with what EFFECT should it be
   transferred?)

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Body of research

• The research literature strongly suggests that
  research organizations should transfer actionable
  message from a body of research knowledge, not
  simply a single research report or the results of
  a single study.

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• The basic unit of knowledge translation should be
  systematic reviews or other syntheses of the
  global evidence base.
• Always?

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Level of Evidence
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Is it correct to consider individual studies as
the unit of knowledge translation?

• This is inappropriate when the targets for
  knowledge translation are patients, health care
  professionals and policy makers.
• Individual studies rarely, by themselves,
  provide sufficient evidence for policy or
  practice changes.

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Why?

• 1. Individual studies can often lead to a
  conclusion very different from that of a
  systematic review of all available studies.
• 2. Research in the form of ideas, not data,
  most influences decision making.

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• Information that is drawn from a body of
  knowledge, rather than from a single study, can
  better enhance both the applicability and
  validity of the knowledge.
• The results of single studies are less likely to
  generate a robust conclusion. They could also be
  too specific to be applicable to other contexts,
  populations, and conditions. Therefore, it is
  suggested that systematic reviews should be
  applied to identify standards for information
  selection and packaging.

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Not all research can or should have an impact

• Some bodies of research knowledge will not
  generate a take-home message, because either
  the research has no apparent application for
  decision makers or the findings are not
  conclusive.

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• Lavis has argued that the 'natural unit' for
  research translation should be 'actionable
  messages' arising from systematic reviews, and
  that the effort of promoting research findings to
  a given category of user should be concentrated
  on the fraction of systematic reviews that have
  an actionable message for that particular audience

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• This suggests that undertaking a priori to
  'disseminate' the findings of a particular piece
  of public health research in the public domain
  (as opposed to making the findings visible to
  others working within the overall translation
  framework) might, in some cases, be inefficient
  or even harmful.

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Message (WHAT?)

• Actionable messages are preferable to single
  research reports or the results of single
  studies.

Actionable message Synthesis of research
knowledge Individual studies, articles and
reports Basic, theoretical and methodological
innovations
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The first published study on a scientific
question may find the most exaggerated effect
size and that as further evidence is gathered,
effect sizes tend to diminish.
Ioannidis, J. (2006). PLOS Clinical Trials 1(7)
e36. doi10.1361/journal.pctr.0010036.
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RESULTS FOR CANADAS APPLIED RESEARCH CENTRES

• Surveyed 175 applied health or economic/social
  research centers on knowledge transfer (KT)
• What is transferred?
  frequently/always
• Summaries or synthesis 34
• Actionable messages 30
• i.e. over two-thirds are still doing knowledge
  transfer with raw results from single studies

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What should be transferred?

• The question What should be transferred?
  challenges knowledge translators to identify the
  key messages for different target audiences and
  to fashion these in language and knowledge
  translation products that are easily assimilated
  by different audiences.

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For Example

• Patient Decision Aids for patients
• Clinical practice guidelines for health care
  professionals
• Actionable messages for policy makers

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• How research or any type of findings are packaged
  and presented can impact how readily the
  knowledge is to put into practice. It is
  sometimes useful, for example, to move away from
  more academic presentations of the research
  findings (e.g. graphs and charts) and to use,
  instead, stories or anecdotes to convey the
  information.

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Tailoring your Findings for Research Users  
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• It has also been suggested that to make the most
  out of research evidence and to reach policy
  makers, give them something in a paragraph to get
  their attention better still if you can give one
  sentence that can be a slogan, a mantra they can
  repeat..
• The language of the message is also important.
  For example, to influence decision makers, the
  research information should be in the form of
  ideas not data.

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Other Aspects

• Safety
• Ethics
• Cost-effectiveness
• Effectiveness
• Organizational issues

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• Of course, these ideas or take-home messages are
  best considered a starting point for a discussion
  with policy makers and managers rather than a
  cookbook remedy.
• Summaries are intended to augment collaboration
  between researchers and decision makers, not
  replace it altogether.

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What do we want to disseminate?

• It is essential, that you and your team have a
  shared vision and common understanding of what it
  is you want to disseminate together with a way of
  describing this to those that are outside your
  project and who may stand to benefit from your
  work.

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• When preparing a message to transfer, it is also
  necessary to consider what information will be
  most useful to the audience. Effective messages
  show the audience the practical applications of
  the knowledge why the information matters to
  them.

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• In constructing any message, it is important to
  focus on the 5Cs
• sure it Clear a message is easy to understand,
• Concise a message is easy to read,
• Consistent a message is related to information
  that is consistent with other existing
  information,
• Compelling a message offers something that
  commands attention,
• Continuous a message has follow-up to make is
  not forgotten or overlooked.

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• An actionable message can be defined by
  considering these questions
• Why is this issue important?
• What does the research evidence tell us about
  this issue?
• Do we know whether and to what extent current
  decision-making differs from optimal/informed
  decision making?
• Who should act and what should be done?

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• Messages/products should be jargon free and
  should be pilot tested in order to assess their
  acceptability to the targeted audience.

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• The research summary must extract clear, simple
  and active main messages or key implications from
  research results, while directing readers to the
  full research reports for more specific details.

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BEING ECONOMICAL BUT LIVELY WITH WORDS

• Summaries, like news articles, will suffer from
  passive verbs, run-on sentences, mixed metaphors
  and clichés. In particular, "readers notice
  sloppy writing and they don't forgive." To ensure
  every idea flows logically into the next, it is
  best to use simple declarative sentences, each
  sticking to one idea. This kind of writing is
  easier to understand and will better hold the
  readers' attention.

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Key messages for what

• Messages from body of researches
• Tailoring your Findings for Research Users
• Evidence is an important part, but not the only
  part of effective decision-making. The use of
  evidence is most successful when local
  differences are factored into the decision-making
  process, whether at the clinical, system, or
  policy level
•  

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A five-step approach to knowledge transfer

1. Message (WHAT?)
2. Target Audience ( To WHOM?)
3. Messenger (BY WHOM?)
4. Knowledge transfer process and support system
   (HOW?)
5. Evaluation (with what EFFECT should it be
   transferred?)

Lavis, J et al. (2003).  How Can Research
Organizations More Effectively Transfer Research
Knowledge to Decision-Makers  The Milbank
Quarterly, 81 (2) 221-248.
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Target Audiences

• A messages target audience must be clearly
  identified.
• Multiple audience-specific messages are needed.
• Research knowledge alone may not impact
  decisions.

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• The term target audience or group can be used
  to describe the different groups of stakeholders
  connected to your project.
• It is important to identify and be clear about
  who your stakeholders are and then you need to be
  able to map them to one of the categories of the
  awareness, understanding, and action model.

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Target Audience (WHO?)

• Identify the most appropriate target audience(s)
  for each message and fine-tune the message and
  approach to knowledge transfer for each target
  audience

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Typical targets

• Macro level (policies)
• Ministry of health
• Regional health authorities
• Regulatory agencies
• Meso level (management)
• Hospital managers
• Department and program managers
• Micro level (practice)
• Colleges and associations of physicians/nurses
• Physicians, nurses, other health care providers
• Patients, people

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The Challenge of Identifying Specific Target
Audiences!

1. Who can act on the basis of the available
   research knowledge?
2. Who can influence those who can act?
3. With which of these target audience(s) can we
   expect to have the most success?
4. Which messages pertain most directly to them?

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Handy Hints

• 1) Think about how you can present your project's
  outputs/outcomes as benefits/solutions.
• 2) Place yourself in the "shoes" of each target
  audience/group and think about what problems you
  would be looking for.

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To Whom Should Knowledge Be Transferred?
type of r research Potential Stakeholder basic clinical Health Service Population Health
Patients
Professional
Local administrator
National policy maker
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To Whom Should Knowledge Be Transferred?
type of r research Potential Stakeholder basic clinical Health Service Population Health
Regulatory Bodies
Industry
Research Funder
Researchers
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• The relative importance of different target
  audiences will also vary by the results of
  research.
• Lack of benefit or harms from a drug policy
  makers, regulatory bodies and industry
• Benefits from a drug patients, providers, local
  administrators, national policy makers,
  regulatory bodies and industry.

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• The research literature does not explain how to
  select the target audiences for a message, only
  that once a target audience is identified, the
  specific knowledge-transfer strategy should be
  fine-tuned to the type of the decisions the
  decision makers face.

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• Learning about these decision-making environments
  often requires a significant investment of time
  and financial resources.

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Key message for To whom

• Identify and be clear about who your stakeholders
  are and then you need to be able to map them to
  one of the categories of the awareness,
  understanding, and action model.

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A five-step approach to knowledge transfer

1. Message (WHAT?)
2. Target Audience ( To WHOM?)
3. Messenger (BY WHOM?)
4. Knowledge transfer process and support system
   (HOW?)
5. Evaluation (with what EFFECT should it be
   transferred?)

Lavis, J et al. (2003).  How Can Research
Organizations More Effectively Transfer Research
Knowledge to Decision-Makers  The Milbank
Quarterly, 81 (2) 221-248.