How Can Primary Care Researchers Make Sure Their Findings Speak to the World of Health Policy Makers?

Context: Questions regarding the most effective ways to translate knowledge and evidence into primary care have been ranked among the top ten international priorities for primary care research.

Objective: To share learnings about engaging with policy-makers to promote the use of PHC research.

Study Design and Analysis: The Canadian Transdisciplinary Understanding and Training on Research-Primary Heath Care (TUTOR-PHC) is a unique program that develops capacity for interdisciplinary PHC research. Part of the TUTOR-PHC curriculum includes a workshop for trainees to gain skills and knowledge in engaging with policy-makers for the purposes of knowledge mobilization. A thematic analysis of the summaries from the workshops over the last 4 years was conducted using the SPIRIT Action Framework to frame the themes. The SPIRIT framework describes a point in research uptake where policy-makers are receptive to research – a “catalyst stage”, and notes that the response to this catalyst is dependent on the capacity of policy-makers to use the research.

Setting or Dataset: Canada

Population Studied: N/A

Intervention/Instrument: N/A

Outcome Measures: N/A

Results: Themes included practical actions researchers can take to influence the catalyst stage and policy maker-capacity as follows: Catalyst: adopt the mindset of creating knowledge and also creating change based on the evidence we produce; strive to understand policy-maker’s context, describe the alignment between your research and the policy-maker’s reality; develop ongoing relationships with policy-makers to facilitate the uptake of evidence and co-creation of questions; and understand that policy-makers bring experiential knowledge.

Capacity: Anticipate the policy-maker’s knowledge needs and provide solutions; develop trusting relationships; invite the policy-maker to be part of the research; use your own knowledge to place research findings in context; bring evidence from other jurisdictions to enhance the knowledge of the policy-maker; and present information on what is feasible, actionable, alternatives and costs.

Conclusions: PHC researchers can enhance their engagement with policy-makers through understanding context, relationship building and skillful synthesis of existing evidence. TUTOR-PHC recognizes this essential component of PHC research and is committed to capacity building in this area.