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Table 1 Characteristics of included studies

From: The effectiveness of research implementation strategies for promoting evidence-informed policy and management decisions in healthcare: a systematic review

Author, year, country

Study design

Health topic

Health organisation setting

Decision-maker population

Control group

Research implementation group

Outcome measure

Beynon et al. 2012, multi-national [46]

Randomised controlled trial

Health in low- and middle-income countries

Public health

Professions from government and non-government organisations and academia (n = 807)

Existing Institute of Development Studies publication from the In Focus Policy Briefing series

Basic 3-page policy brief

Basic 3-page policy brief plus an expert opinion piece

Basic 3-page policy brief plus an unnamed research fellow opinion piece

Online questionnaires (immediately, 1 week and 3 months post)

Semi-structured interviews (in-between 1 week and 3 months and after 3 month questionnaires)

Brownson et al. 2007, USA [47]

Quasi-experimental

Guidelines for promoting physical activity

State and local health departments (n = 8)

Health department program managers, administrators, division, bureau, or agency heads, and ‘other’ positions e.g. program planner, nutritionist

(State n = 58)

(Local n = 55)

(Other n = 80)

Remaining states and the Virgin Islands served as the comparison group)

Workshops, ongoing technical assistance and distribution of an instructional CD-ROM

25-item questionnaire survey (2 years)

Bullock et al. 2012, UK [48]

Programme evaluation case study

Non-specific

NHS health service delivery organisations (n = 10)

Management fellows (n = 11)

Chief investigators (n = 10)

Additional co-applicants from the research teams (n = 3)

Workplace line-managers (n = 12)

(Total n = 36)

None

UK Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) Management Fellowship programme

Semi-structured face-to-face interviews

Campbell et al. 2011, Australia [49]

Program evaluation

Range of topics related to population health, health services organisation and delivery, and cost effectiveness

State-level policy agencies, including both the New South Wales and Victorian Departments of Health (n = 5)

Policymakers (n = 8)

None

‘Evidence check’ rapid policy relevant review and knowledge brokers

Structured interviews (2–3 years)

Chambers et al. 2012, UK [58]

Case study

Adolescents with eating disorders

Primary care

Local NHS commissioners and clinicians (n = 15)

None

Contextualised evidence briefing based on systematic review

Short evaluation questionnaire

Champagne et al. 2014, Canada [59]

Case studies

Non-specific

Academic health centres (n = 6)

Extra fellows, SEARCHers, Colleagues, Supervisors, Vice-presidents and CEOs (n = 84)

None

Executive Training for Research Application (EXTRA) program

Swift, Efficient, Application of Research in Community Health (SEARCH) Classic program

Semi-structured interviews and data from available organisational documents

Courtney et al. 2007, USA [60]

Cohort study

Substance abuse treatment programs

Community-based treatment units (n = 53 units from n = 24 multisite parent organisations)

Directors and clinical supervisors (n = 309)

None

2-day workshop (entitled “TCU Model Training-making it real”)

Compliance with early steps of consulting and planning activities (1 month)

Organisational Readiness for Change (ORC) assessment (1 month)

Dagenais et al. 2015, Burkina Faso [52]

Implementation evaluation

Maternal health, malaria prevention, free healthcare, and family planning

Public health

Researchers; Knowledge brokers; health professionals; community-based organisations; and local, regional, and national policy-makers (n = 47)

None

Knowledge broker

Semi-structured individual interviews and participant training session questionnaires

Dobbins et al. 2001, Canada [61].

Cross-sectional follow-up survey

Home visiting as a public health intervention, community-based heart health promotion, adolescent suicide prevention, community development, and parent-child health

Public health units (n = 41)

Public health decision-makers (n = 147)

None

Systematic reviews

Cross-sectional follow-up telephone survey

Dobbins et al. 2009, Canada [9]

Randomised controlled trial

Promotion of healthy bodyweight in children

Public health departments (n = 108)

Front-line staff 35%

Managers 26%

Directors 10%

Coordinators 9%

Other 20%

(n = 108)

Access to an online registry of research evidence

Tailored, targeted messages

Access to an online registry of research evidence

Knowledge broker

Tailored, targeted messages

Access to an online registry of research evidence

Telephone-administered survey (knowledge transfer and exchange data collection tool)

1–3 months post completion of intervention (intervention lasted 12 months)

Dopp et al. 2013, Netherlands [55]

Mixed methods process evaluation

Dementia

Home-based community health

Managers (n = 20)

Physicians (n = 36)

Occupational therapists (n = 36)

None

Multifaceted implementation strategy

Semi-structured telephone interviews with managers (3–5 months)

Semi-structured focus groups with occupational therapists (2 months)

Flanders et al. 2009, USA [53]

Implementation evaluation

Patient safety

Teaching and nonteaching, urban and rural, government and private, as well as academic and community settings (n = 9)

Hospitalists or quality improvement staff, representatives from each institutions department of quality or department of patient safety (n = 9)

None

The Hospitalists as Emerging Leaders in Patient Safety (HELPS) Consortium

Web-based survey (post meetings)

Gagliardi et al. 2008, Canada [56]

Mixed methods exploratory

Colorectal cancer

Not specified

Researchers (n = 6)

Clinicians (n = 13)

Manager (n = 5)

Policy-maker (n = 5)

(Total n = 29)

 

Review of Canadian health services research in colorectal cancer based on published performance measures

1-day workshop to prioritise research gaps, define research questions and plan implementation of a research study.

Participant survey (prior to workshop)

Observation of workshop participants (during workshop)

Semi-structured interviews and observation of workshop participants (during workshop)

Kitson et al. 2011, Australia [50]

Project evaluation

7 clinical topic areas identified in The Older Person and Improving Care (TOPIC7) project

Large tertiary hospital (n = 1)

Clinical nursing leaders (n = 14)

Team members (n = 28)

Managers (n = 11)

None

Knowledge translation toolkit

Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires

Moat et al. 2014, multi-national, [63]

Survey evaluation

Health in low- and middle-income countries

Public health

Policy-makers, stakeholders and researchers (n = 530)

None

Evidence briefs

Deliberative dialogues

Questionnaire surveys

Traynor et al. 2014, Canada [57]

Single mixed-methods study and a case study

Child obesity

Canadian public health departments (n = 30)

(Case studies n = 3)

Health department staff

(RCT n = 108)

(Case A n = 258)

(Case B n = 391)

(Case C n = 155)

Access to an online registry of research evidence

Knowledge brokering

Knowledge broker journaling (baseline, interim, follow-up)

Qualitative interviews n = 12 (1 year)

Case study interviews n = 37 (baseline, interim and 22 month follow-up)

Uneke et al. 2015, Nigeria [54]

Implementation evaluation

Low- and middle-income country health

Public health

Directors from Ministry of Health (n = 9)

Senior researchers from the university (n = 5)

NGO executive director (n = 1)

Director of public health in the local government service commission (n = 1)

Executive secretary of the AIDS control agency (n = 1)

State focal person of Millennium Development Goals (n = 1)

(Total n = 18)

None

Training workshop (HPAC)

Certificate course (HPAC)

Policy brief and hosting of a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue (HPAC)

Semi-structured interviews (end of each intervention)

Group discussions

Waqa et al. 2013, Fiji [51]

Process evaluation

Overweight and obesity

Public health government organisations (n = 6)

NGOs (n = 2)

Senior managers (n = 20)

Middle managers (n = 22)

Junior managers (n = 7)

(Total n = 49)

None

Policy brief and hosting of a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue (HPAC)

Semi-structured interviews

Process diaries

Wilson et al. 2015, Canada [64]

Process evaluation

Non specific

Policy analysts (n = 9)

Health department units (n = 6)

Senior analysts (n = 8)

Junior analysts (n = 1)

None

Access to an online registry of research evidence

Semi-structured telephone interviews