A Community of Practice for Knowledge Translation Trainees: An Innovative Approach for Learning and Collaboration

Abstract

A growing number of researchers and trainees identify knowledge translation (KT) as their field of study or practice. Yet, KT educational and professional development opportunities and established KT networks remain relatively uncommon, making it challenging for trainees to develop the necessary skills, networks, and collaborations to optimally work in this area. The Knowledge Translation Trainee Collaborative is a trainee-initiated and trainee-led community of practice established by junior knowledge translation researchers and practitioners to: examine the diversity of knowledge translation research and practice, build networks with other knowledge translation trainees, and advance the field through knowledge generation activities. In this article, we describe how the collaborative serves as an innovative community of practice for continuing education and professional development in knowledge translation and present a logic model that provides a framework for designing an evaluation of its impact as a community of practice. The expectation is that formal and informal networking will lead to knowledge sharing and knowledge generation opportunities that improve individual members' competencies (eg, combination of skills, abilities, and knowledge) in knowledge translation research and practice and contribute to the development and advancement of the knowledge translation field.

Broadening measures of success: results of a behavioral health translational research training program

“…Training and mentoring new researchers in implementation science and in translational research are increasingly emphasized in health equity research, as evidenced by the many current programs in existence for training both students and faculty members [1, 6, 8, 10, 39–41]. To facilitate innovation in translational research in clinical and services research, researchers from various disciplines must be willing to engage in collaboration beyond the defined margins of their discipline [9].…”

Proposing a center on aging and well-being: Research, education, and practice considerations

“…These benefits include: enrichment of professional competencies; increased knowledge capital; and relevance of information and resources to daily roles and responsibilities (Urquhart et al, 2013). Wetle and Pincus (2011) further suggest that these contributions may also impact practitioners' satisfaction and engagement.…”

“…A participant, familiar with a Canadian centre on aging, noted the benefits of offering student scholarships and student affiliations to enhance the future capacity of the university. Strategies in the literature are to: provide formal mentoring; conduct group and individual consultation; offer seminar series on research methodology and proposal development; organize work-in-progress seminars for receipt of constructive feedback; collaborative projects; and skill-building workshops in grant writing (Keyser et al, 2012;Pincus et al, 2007;Schultz et al, 2011;Urquhart et al, 2013). Additionally, to increase research capacity, adequate communication between researchers is required.…”

“…The establishment of an evaluation process guides ongoing assessment and identifies specific milestones and performance measures (AFAR, 2009). The literature recommends the following outcome metrics: self-reported assessments related to network creation, collaborative group activities, and impact of centre on researcher's professional growth (Urquhart et al, 2013); measures of projects related to the attainment of the centre's mission in research, education, and clinical practice to be reflected in annual reports (Supiano et al, 2012); meeting minutes; research seminar topics, attendance, and evaluation; interdisciplinary course syllabi and course evaluations; successful grant proposals, publications, and presentations; and tracking of pilot projects and group collaborations (Curators of the University of Missouri, 2007). Although not identified in the literature, in addition to these successes, it would also be beneficial to track unsuccessful ventures for lessons learned.…”

Squaring Circles: The gap for Interdisciplinary Trainees in a Discipline-Driven Academy

“…However, simply offering training is an inadequate solution and universities and other institutions must catch up with the interdisciplinary way of thinking, without being limited to providing skills to out-going graduates. Collaborative efforts to explore and advance ways of integrating disciplinary fields of study and practice are missing (Urquhart et al, 2013). Interdisciplinary health services training was developed in part to respond to the lack of connection between knowledge producers and users; however, spanners span, they do not belong in one world or the other.…”