Development of a knowledge translation taxonomy in the field of health prevention: a participative study between researchers, decision-makers and field professionals

Abstract

Objectives: The current literature lacks a detailed and standardised description of public health knowledge translation (KT) activities designed to be applied at local levels of health systems. As part of an ongoing research project called the Transfert de connaissances en regions (TC-REG project), we aim to develop a local KT taxonomy in the field of health prevention by means of a participative study between researchers, decision-makers and field professionals. This KT taxonomy provides a comparative description of existing local health prevention KT strategies. Methods: Two methods were used to design a participative process conducted in France to develop the taxonomy, combining professional meetings (two seminars) and qualitative interviews. The first step involved organising a seminar in Paris, attended by health prevention professionals from health agencies in four regions of France and regional non-profit organisations for health education and promotion. This led to the drafting of regional KT plans to be implemented in the four regions. In a second step, we conducted interviews to obtain a clear understanding of the KT activities implemented in the regions. Based on data from interviews, a KT taxonomy was drawn up and discussed during a second seminar. Results: Our work resulted in a KT taxonomy composed of 35 standardised KT activities, grouped into 11 categories of KT activities, e.g. dissemination of evidence, support for use of evidence through processes and structures, KT advocacy, and so on. Conclusions: The taxonomy appears to be a promising tool for developing and evaluating KT plans for health prevention in local contexts by providing some concrete examples of potential KT activities (advocacy) and a comparison of the same activities and their outcomes (evaluation).

Evaluation of a knowledge translation strategy to improve policymaking and practices in health promotion and disease prevention setting in French regions: TC-REG, a realist study

“…Our study highlighted some crucial information from the analyses. The large amount of qualitative data allowed us to create a taxonomy 37 and to develop eight refined middle-range theories and seven recommendations that will be valuable for knowledge and decision-making challenges.…”

“…The elaboration of a standardised taxonomy helped us to use the same definition of the activities. More details have been described in Affret et al 37 Before the analysis of the third round of interviews, the mechanisms and activities identified were grouped by type or theme (mechanisms were regrouped into eight categories and KT activities in four groups).…”

“…The detailed activities implemented in regions and corresponding to these operational objectives have been transcribed into a standardised taxonomy published by Affret et al . 37 …”

“…An illustration of the KT plan for one region is detailed in online supplemental annex 1. The detailed activities implemented in regions and corresponding to these operational objectives have been transcribed into a standardised taxonomy published by Affret et al 37 Initial middle-range theory Drawing on the literature and experience of professionals locally involved in the intervention, the initial middlerange theory was established, 26 31 then tested in each case (ie, region) through collection of qualitative data. 29 At this point, no external contextual factors (ie, Ce for external contextual factors that are not linked to the intervention) were identified, because there was no consensus on this topic among participants.…”

“…We developed a taxonomy of KT activities that allowed comparison of Open access identical activities among regions. 37 These developments strongly mobilised the research team, thus mobilising the project's resources. Thus, the last seminar could not be carried out.…”