Table 3 Framework for additional activities for community-based research (CBR) to link research to action

Fostering a culture that supports research use

▪ Through an ongoing model of 'linkage and exchange', engage CBOs in the development, production and updating of community relevant systematic reviews in order to help increase their perceived value as an input to CBO decision-making.

▪ Widen the scope of CBR partnerships by seeking out new key stakeholders in the community (e.g., knowledge brokers facilitating partnerships with stakeholders that are interested in addressing similar issues).

▪ Provide dedicated funds for projects that attempt to link CBR to action on a large-scale (i.e., not only within local communities but also across jurisdictions at the provincial/state, national and international level).

▪ Within an evidence service that identifies actionable messages from research evidence (see activities for 'push' and facilitating 'pull' below), periodically highlight case studies where research was successfully used in a community setting to inform CBO advocacy, program planning or service provision.

Production of research to key target audiences

▪ Researchers and funders engage CBOs in priority setting processes for CBR studies in areas where there is minimal research, for systematic reviews in areas where there is pool of research evidence already accumulated, and for developing systems to link research evidence to action at the community level.

▪ Produce targeted funding streams based on priority setting with CBOs for CBR, community-relevant systematic reviews and initiatives to develop systems to link research evidence to action at the community level.

▪ Engage CBOs in the development, production and updating of systematic reviews in order to ensure they produce evidence that is relevant.

Activities to link research to action

   'Push'

▪ Develop an evidence service that identifies actionable messages for communities from relevant systematic reviews and involve credible messengers in providing them to CBOs in user-friendly formats (e.g., short, structured summaries with graded entry to the full details of the review).

▪ Engage CBOs to develop a 'push' evidence service with a stream of community relevant systematic reviews (or CBR projects where reviews are not available).

   'Pull'

▪ Conduct periodic capacity-building initiatives with CBOs to help them identify areas where research can be used as an input into their decision-making.

▪ Periodically highlight instances where the use of research evidence made the difference between success and failure of a CBO initiative.

Facilitating 'pull'

▪ Create an evidence service, in combination with 'push' efforts, that provides 'one stop shopping' websites/databases of relevant and user-friendly systematic reviews with actionable messages that can be located through search terms that are relevant to CBOs.

▪ Provide capacity-building to CBOs to help build their skills related to acquiring, assess, adapting and applying research evidence in their organization.

   'Exchange'

▪ Engage CBOs in deliberative dialogues where health system stakeholders gather to discuss a pre-circulated evidence brief and have 'off-the-record' deliberations (e.g., the McMaster Health Forum).

▪ Engage CBOs in the development, production, and updating of systematic reviews in order to build and maintain partnerships between relevant stakeholders.

▪ Use knowledge brokers and/or other credible messengers to promote additional partnerships with CBOs previously not engaged in CBR and other interested stakeholders.

Evaluation

▪ Researchers, CBOs, and funders work collaboratively to rigorously evaluate the impact of strategies to link research evidence to action such as those outlined above (e.g., evaluating the effectiveness of an evidence service for relevant and user-friendly systematic reviews that combines 'push' and efforts to facilitate 'pull').