Frayme: Building the structure to support the international spread of integrated youth services

Frayme is a Canadian-based international network designed to accelerate the adoption and scaling up of integrated youth services (IYS). This is done through the synthesis of evidence from a variety of sources and a commitment to integrated knowledge mobilization (KMb) to inform research policy and practice. Frayme is utilizing innovative approaches to stakeholder engagement (youth, families, policy makers, funders, researchers and practitioners) and KMb in order to co-design system change. The purpose of this article describes the overall Frayme strategy and presents findings from a participatory needs assessment implemented to inform policy-related priorities.

The Frayme leadership team facilitated a participatory needs assessment with major stakeholder groups that applied a modified problem-solving activity. The needs assessment was on a designed to support diverse stakeholder perspectives on ways to improve knowledge mobilization of IYS. Qualitative data were analysed using a thematic analysis.

The four themes identified through the needs assessment were: (a) traditional scientific practices, (b) organizational obstacles, (c) change aversion, and (d) pre-established stakeholder hierarchies.

Through the recognition of these challenges, Frayme has developed a set of major objectives to inform projects, opportunities for knowledge sharing, implementation of evidence and scaling up of efforts. The Frayme integrated KMb model represents a unique applied example of an evidence-informed approach to practice collaboration in KMb to promote system change. The findings from this research also contribute to the expanding knowledge base with regard to complex evaluation and system transformation.