Introduction
The utilisation of knowledge that is generated from health research to inform and guide clinical practice is recognised as a high global priority.1-3 The need for evidence-informed practice is recognised across multiple governments policymakers, and funding agencies in response to a rapidly expanding evidence base, the restructuring of health care, insufficient resources, and increased professional accountability.4 Effective translation of knowledge has the potential to improve health outcomes and health services delivery.5-8
”Knowledge translation” (KT) is a term utilised to explain the activities involved in translating health-related research findings into practice.9,10 It is defined as ”a dynamic and iterative process that includes the synthesis, dissemination, exchange and ethically sound application of knowledge to improve health, provide more effective health services and products and strengthen the healthcare system”.11 It attempts to assure that stakeholders or ”knowledge users”, are familiar with, using and accessing research findings and engaging them as active participants in the research process.12-15
Despite the increase in health research globally, the method of translating health-related research findings into policy and practice remains slow,8,16 and the gap between findings and practice is growing.17,18 These gaps might be related to a wide range of challenges that have been reported in previous reviews. For instance, Oliver and colleagues19explored the challenges of utilising of health research findings by policymakers. They identified several obstacles towards the translation of knowledge into policy. Lavis et al20 reported the significance of involving policymakers with health research activities. Though the two reviews focused on barriers and identified several obstacles in the translation of knowledge, their searches were limited to policymakers’ and related factors, without the impact on other stakeholders/users. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no systematic overview to address the challenges of translating health-related research evidence into policy and practice simultaneously.
Therefore, this systematic review aims at synthesising evidence from earlier reports and existing literature about the barriers and facilitators that enable the translation of health research findings into practice. The methodology used is derived from the multi-level WHO Innovative Care for Chronic Conditions (ICCC),21 a model widely used across studies with multi-level determinants, such as the micro-, meso- and macro-levels.