Dissertation Defence: Understanding and Supporting Adoption of the Integrated Knowledge Translation Guiding Principles for Conducting and Disseminating Spinal Cord Injury Research in Partnerships
June 16 at 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Alanna Shwed, supervised by Dr. Heather Gainforth, will defend their dissertation titled “Understanding and Supporting Adoption of the Integrated Knowledge Translation Guiding Principles for Conducting and Disseminating Spinal Cord Injury Research in Partnerships” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology.
An abstract for Alanna Shwed’s dissertation is included below.
Examinations are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Registration is not required for in-person exams.
Abstract
Spinal cord injury (SCI) research has increasingly recognized the importance of engaging individuals with lived experience, healthcare providers, community organizations, and other groups affected by SCI, as partners throughout the research process. Integrated Knowledge Translation (IKT) is a co-production approach to research that promotes collaboration, shared decision-making, and the inclusion of diverse forms of knowledge throughout the research process. The IKT Guiding Principles were developed to support ethical and meaningful engagement in SCI research and to reduce tokenism, where research users are involved in name only without meaningful influence. Despite their potential, little is known about how these principles are adopted in practice.
This dissertation explores the adoption of the IKT Guiding Principles across three levels of the SCI research system: global awareness, adoption by individual researchers, and institutional support. Guided by systems thinking and grounded in behaviour change and implementation science, three studies were conducted using qualitative and mixed methods approaches. Study 1 explored dissemination strategies and global awareness of the principles. Study 2 used the Theoretical Domains Framework and the Behaviour Change Wheel to identify the barriers and facilitators that influence North American SCI researchers’ adoption of the principles. Study 3 used the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and Theoretical Domains Framework to explore how a research institution can support or hinder the adoption of co-production approaches and/or the IKT Guiding Principles.
Findings highlight key factors that influence adoption of co-production research approaches and/or the IKT Guiding Principles, including individual capability and motivation, organizational support structures, and the broader research system and funding environment. Together, these studies offer a multi-level analysis of how IKT principles are taken up in SCI research and provide practical, evidence-informed strategies to support their use. This dissertation contributes to the science of co-production by identifying mechanisms for change and opportunities to embed equity-based co-production approaches in research systems. The findings have broad relevance for advancing meaningful, sustainable, and impactful research partnerships in SCI and beyond.
