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Knowledge Translation
CRUNCH uses five strategies to ensure that policy makers, service providers, fellow researchers and the various communities with a stake in a study are engaged in the research process and able to understand and effectively use the findings.
- Involve decision-makers, service providers and the community in the
development of research questions and design.
This substantially improves the relevance of research for potential
users and has also been successful in assuring community members that
the research team is genuinely concerned with the welfare of the
communities.
- Form an advisory committee with membership from key groups and use it at key points in the research. Members are partner agencies, policy makers at the provincial and federal levels and tenant representatives. The advisory committee has helped develop research questions and strategies and will contribute to the interpretation and sharing of results.
- Use the Chair’s Knowledge Translation Council to share findings and
recruit new partners on projects.
Nearly all of the organizations represented on the Knowledge
Translation Council are already partnering with Dr. Dunn on research
projects, either as a funder, a decision-making stakeholder or as a
knowledge translation partner.
- Conduct formal workshops on knowledge translation and
population-based evaluation. This
strategy is designed to reach decision-makers and service providers
outside of Toronto. Workshops will be held in Toronto and in other
cities across Ontario and Canada. Examples include the Centre for
Research on Inner City Health’s annual summer school in urban
health research, the Canadian Public Health Association conference
and meetings held by provincial public health associations.
- Enhance the practice of knowledge translation related to housing and health. The Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto focuses on innovative approaches to ‘bench to bedside’ knowledge translation. Through CRUNCH, the Institute is encouraged to broaden its target audience to include those stakeholders who are involved in housing, urban planning, social services and children's services, but not directly involved in health care. CRUNCH also helps the Institute to integrate knowledge drawn from laboratory, clinical and community studies and apply it to neighbourhood interventions.
