Supporting the Use of Research Evidence by Community-Based Organizations in the Health Sector

Abstract

Community-based organizations are important stakeholders in health systems and research evidence can inform many aspects of their work, including their delivery of programs and services and their advocacy for broader system level supports. Unfortunately, there have been few visible efforts, such as those developed for other stakeholders (e.g., health system professionals and policymakers) to support the use of research evidence in community-based organizations. I have begun to address this need in this thesis through four manuscripts that collectively use a mix of approaches and methods to contribute to better supporting the use of research evidence by community-based organizations as well as to evaluating these efforts. Specifically, in the chapters I present: 1) a framework for supporting the use of research evidence by community-based organizations; 2) a scoping review of the key characteristics of community-based organizations; 3) a qualitative study of executive directors and program managers of community-based organizations in three sectors in Ontario, Canada (HIV/AIDS, diabetes, and mental health and addictions) to develop approaches to user-friendly summaries and peer-relevance assessments of systematic reviews; and 4) a protocol for a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effects of an evidence service on community-based AIDS service organizations' use of research evidence. Each of the chapters contributes to the development of a novel area of research in knowledge transfer and exchange and the thesis as a whole provides a framework, resources, and practical tools for those interested in supporting the use of research evidence by community-based organizations. A number of important areas for future research have emerged from this thesis including conducting long-term evaluations of efforts to support the use of research by community-based organizations, developing and refining theories related to whether, how and why they use research evidence, and developing additional strategies to support their use of research evidence, including deliberative dialogues and capacity building.