More than a Broker: A Case Study of Knowledge Mobilization in a Digital Era (original) (raw)
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—Background: Knowledge brokering is an emerging best practice strategy in knowledge translation and exchange in the health sector. Knowledge brokering is defined as being an activity undertaken by intermediaries (individuals, organizations, networks, etc.) acting as " connectors " to link producers and end users of new knowledge. Despite the increase in research dealing with the importance of knowledge brokering in the health sector, little is still known about the profiles and practical practices of knowledge brokers. This article provides an empirical portrait of knowledge brokering in the Web 2.0 era. It goes beyond the rhetoric and the opposing anecdotal evidence to respond to two questions: i) What is the profile of knowledge brokers? and ii) How does knowledge brokering work in the health sector in Quebec, Canada? Methods: The data used come from a survey carried out in 2011 among a representative sample of knowledge brokers using Web 2.0 technologies in Canada. The theory of knowledge absorptive capacity is used as the analytical reference to describe the " black box " of the knowledge brokering process. Results: The authors of this article provide a detailed profile of knowledge-brokering activities (stages, behavior, support, etc.), brokers' individual attributes (age, gender, experience, training, preferences, etc.), as well as exchanged-knowledge specific attributes. Conclusion: This study shows the complexity and diversity of the knowledge brokers' tasks and emphasizes the importance of the training and support required to develop brokers' competencies and the collaborations required by the digital media coverage of knowledge as well as by the mobilization of evidence for decision making and public health policies.
Telehealth and Mobile Health, 2015
Knowledge brokering is defined as an activity involving intermediaries (individuals, organizations, and networks) that act as "connectors," or liaison agents, between the producers and users of new knowledge (Dobbins et al., 2009). This chapter provides an overview of knowledge brokering in the digital age in the context of the health sector in Canada. Despite the proliferation of theoretical and inductive research that has examined knowledge brokering, there are still some questions to be answered, inspired by the works and conclusions of Ward et al. (2009a) and Dobbins et al. (2009): what technologies are used by knowledge brokers, what interactions are initiated with the stakeholders involved, and what about the effectiveness of knowledge brokering? Drawing from a robust literature review and based on a survey of a representative sample of knowledge brokers using web 2.0 social networks, our investigations attempts to measure the challenges and the determinants of knowledge brokering, with the aim of helping healthcare CONTENTS 20.
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Program objective -Knowledge brokers (KBs), like clinical librarians (CLs), are information professionals involved in the promotion of evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM). As with CLs, the impact of literatureevaluating KBs on the health sector is sparse, and there is limited consensus on their role. To provide guidance to information professionals and organizations regarding the KB role, this paper describes a typical "day in the life" of a KB in delivering a program to promote EIDM among Canadian public health professionals. Setting -The KB program was implemented in a randomized controlled trial evaluating knowledge transfer and exchange strategies. Participants -Public health managers at various levels within Canadian public health units or regional health authorities. Program -The KB identified decision makers' (DMs) evidence needs; facilitated access to and use of high-quality evidence; assisted in decision making; and facilitated EIDM skill development. Results -The KB role, activities and related tasks, lessons learned, and challenges are described. Conclusion -Central themes included the importance of relationship development, ongoing support, customized approaches, and individual and organizational capacity development. The novelty of the KB role in public health provided a unique opportunity to assess the need for and reaction to the role and its associated activities.
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Knowledge brokering is a strategy to support collaborations and partnerships within and across clinical, research, and policy worlds to improve the generation and use of research knowledge. Knowledge brokers function in multiple roles to facilitate the use of evidence by leveraging the power of these partnerships. The application of theory can provide clarity in understanding the processes, influences, expected mechanisms of action, and desired outcomes of knowledge brokering. Viewing knowledge brokering from the perspective of its role domains can provide a means of organizing these elements to advance our understanding of knowledge brokering. The objectives of this special interest article are (1) to describe the context for knowledge brokering in health care, (2) to provide an overview of knowledge translation theories applied to knowledge brokering, and (3) to propose a model outlining the role domains assumed in knowledge brokering. The Role Model for Knowledge Brokering is com...
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This paper describes the emergence of new activist groups in the health sector, spinning off from internet discussion groups. In the first part, it shows how self-help discussion groups can be considered as communities of practice in which, partly thanks to the Internet media, collective learning activities result in the constitution of experiencial knowledge, the appropriation of exogenous sources of knowledge, including medical knoweldge and the articulation of these different sources of knowledge in some lay expertise. In the second part, it describes how activist groups might emerge from these discussion groups and develop specific modes of action drawing upon the forms of expertise constituted through the Internet groups. Activists groups together with self-help groups might form epistemic communities (Haas 1992), i.e. groups of experts engaged in a policy enterprise in which knowledge plays a major role : in the confrontation of health activists with professionals, the capacity to translate political claims into the langage of science appears as a condition to be (even) heard and be taken into consideration.
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