Capacity development for knowledge translation : evaluation of an experiential approach through secondment opportunities

Background - Experiential approaches to skills development using secondment models are shown to benefit healthcare organisations more generally, but little is known about the potential of this approach to develop capacity for knowledge translation (KT).

Aim - To evaluate the success of KT capacity development secondments from the perspective of multiple stakeholders.

Methods - A pluralistic evaluation design was used. Data were collected during 2011-12 using focus group and individual interviews with 14 clinical and academic secondees, and five managers from host and seconding organisations to gain insight into participants’ perceptions of the success of secondments and the criteria by which they judged success. Six After Action Reviews were undertaken with KT project teams to explore participants’ perceptions of the contribution secondees made to KT projects. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with three healthcare managers on completion of projects to explore the impact of secondments on the organisation, staff and patients. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify criteria for success. The criteria provided a framework through which the overall success of secondments could be judged.

Results - Six criteria for judging the success of the secondments at individual, team and organisation level were identified: KT skills development, effective workload management, team working, achieving KT objectives, enhanced care delivery, enhanced education delivery. Benefits to the individual, KT team, seconding and host organisations were identified.

Implications for practice - Hosting teams should provide mentorship support to secondees, and be flexible to accommodate secondees’ needs as team members. On-going support of managers from seconding organisations is needed to maximise the benefits to individual secondees and the organisation.

Conclusions - Experiential approaches to KT capacity development using secondments can benefit individual secondees, project teams, seconding and host organisations.