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.