WHO Uganda office, Health systems and services cluster, P. O. Box 24578, Kampala, Uganda.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2013 Aug 19;13:324. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-13-324.
Stakeholder roles in the application of evidence are influenced by context, the nature of the evidence, the policy development process, and stakeholder interactions. Past research has highlighted the role of stakeholders in knowledge translation (KT) without paying adequate attention to the peculiarities of low-income countries. Here we identify the roles, relations, and interactions among the key stakeholders involved in KT in Uganda and the challenges that they face.
This study employed qualitative approaches to examine the roles of and links among various stakeholders in KT. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 key informants and focused on the key actors in KT, their perceived roles, and challenges.
Major stakeholders included civil society organizations with perceived roles of advocacy, community mobilization, and implementation. These stakeholders may ignore unconvincing evidence. The community's role was perceived as advocacy and participation in setting research priorities. The key role of the media was perceived as knowledge dissemination, but respondents noted that the media may misrepresent evidence if it is received in a poorly packaged form. The perceived roles of policy makers were evidence uptake, establishing platforms for KT and stewardship; negative roles included ignoring or even misrepresenting evidence that is not in their favor. The roles of parliamentarians were perceived as advocacy and community mobilization, but they were noted to pursue objectives that may not be supported by the evidence. The researchers' main role was defined as evidence generation, but focusing disproportionately on academic interests was cited as a concern. The donors' main role was defined as funding research and KT, but respondents were concerned about the local relevance of donor-supported research. Respondents reported that links among stakeholders were weak due to the absence of institutionalized, inclusive platforms. Challenges facing the stakeholders in the process of KT were identified.
Our investigation revealed the need to consider the roles that various stakeholders are best placed to play. Links and necessary platforms must be put in place to achieve synergy in KT. Relevant capacities need to be built to overcome the challenges faced by the various stakeholders.
利益相关者在应用证据方面的角色受到背景、证据性质、政策制定过程以及利益相关者互动的影响。过去的研究强调了利益相关者在知识转化（KT）中的作用，但没有充分关注低收入国家的特殊性。在这里，我们确定了乌干达 KT 中关键利益相关者的角色、关系和相互作用，以及他们面临的挑战。
本研究采用定性方法研究了 KT 中各种利益相关者的角色和关系。对 21 名主要知情人进行了深入访谈，重点关注 KT 中的主要行为者、他们的感知角色和挑战。
主要利益相关者包括民间社会组织，其角色是倡导、社区动员和实施。这些利益相关者可能会忽略没有说服力的证据。社区的角色被认为是倡导和参与制定研究重点。媒体的主要作用被认为是知识传播，但受访者指出，如果证据以包装不当的形式收到，媒体可能会歪曲证据。决策者的角色被认为是证据的采纳、建立 KT 平台和管理；消极的角色包括忽视甚至歪曲对他们不利的证据。议员的角色被认为是倡导和社区动员，但他们被认为是追求可能不支持证据的目标。研究人员的主要角色被定义为证据的产生，但过于关注学术利益被认为是一个问题。捐助者的主要角色被定义为资助研究和 KT，但受访者对捐助者支持的研究是否符合当地情况表示担忧。受访者报告说，由于缺乏制度化的、包容性的平台，利益相关者之间的联系很薄弱。确定了利益相关者在 KT 过程中面临的挑战。
我们的调查显示，需要考虑各种利益相关者最适合扮演的角色。必须建立联系和必要的平台，以实现 KT 的协同作用。需要建立相关能力，以克服各种利益相关者面临的挑战。
