Université de Montréal, 555 René-Lévesque Ouest, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Health Res Policy Syst. 2009 Dec 10;7:28. doi: 10.1186/1478-4505-7-28.
Despite the increasing mobilization of researchers and funding organizations around knowledge translation (KT) in Canada and elsewhere, many questions have been only partially answered, particularly in the field of population health. This article presents the results of a systematic process to draw out possible avenues of collaboration for researchers, practitioners and decision-makers who work in the area of KT. The main objective was to establish a research agenda on knowledge translation in population health.
Using the Concept Mapping approach, the research team wanted to identify priority themes for the development of research on KT in population health. Mapping is based on multivariate statistical analyses (multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis) in which statements produced during a brainstorming session are grouped in weighted clusters. The final maps are a visual representation of the priority themes of research on KT. Especially designed for facilitating consensus in the understanding and organization of various concepts, the Concept Mapping method proved suitable for achieving this objective.
The maps were produced by 19 participants from university settings, and from institutions within the health and social services network. Three main perspectives emerge from this operation: (1) The evaluation of the effectiveness of KT efforts is one of the main research priorities; (2) The importance of taking into consideration user contexts in any KT effort; (3) The challenges related to sharing power for decision-making and action-taking among various stakeholder groups. These perspectives open up avenues of collaboration for stakeholders who are involved in research on KT. Besides these three main perspectives, the concept maps reveal three other trends which should be emphasized.
The Concept Mapping process reported in this article aimed to provoke collective reflection on the research questions that should be studied, in order to foster coherence in research activities in the field of population health. Based on this, it is appropriate to continue to support the development of research projects in KT and the formation of research teams in this field. Research on KT must lead to concrete outcomes within communities that are interested in the question.
尽管加拿大和其他地方的研究人员和资助组织越来越多地参与知识转化（KT），但许多问题只是部分得到了回答，特别是在人群健康领域。本文介绍了一个系统的过程，旨在为从事 KT 领域的研究人员、从业人员和决策者找出可能的合作途径。主要目标是制定人口健康知识转化研究议程。
研究小组使用概念映射方法，旨在确定人口健康知识转化研究的优先主题。映射基于多元统计分析（多维标度和层次聚类分析），其中在头脑风暴会议期间产生的陈述被分组到加权集群中。最终的图谱是知识转化研究优先主题的可视化表示。概念映射方法是一种特别设计的方法，用于促进对各种概念的理解和组织的共识，证明适合实现这一目标。
来自大学和卫生和社会服务网络机构的 19 名参与者参与了图谱的制作。从这次操作中出现了三个主要视角：（1）评估 KT 工作的效果是主要研究重点之一；（2）在任何 KT 工作中考虑用户背景的重要性；（3）与各种利益相关者群体共享决策和采取行动的权力相关的挑战。这些观点为参与 KT 研究的利益相关者开辟了合作途径。除了这三个主要视角外，概念图还揭示了其他三个值得强调的趋势。
本文报道的概念映射过程旨在引发对应研究的问题的集体思考，以促进人群健康领域研究活动的一致性。在此基础上，继续支持 KT 研究项目的发展和该领域研究团队的组建是合适的。KT 研究必须在对该问题感兴趣的社区中产生具体成果。
