Translating Research into Practice: How Confident Are Allied Health Clinicians?

Knowledge translation (KT) is a multistage process of implementing practice change to align with evidence-based practice. This study aimed to determine the confidence of allied health professionals (AHPs) to undertake KT.

A quantitative questionnaire was disseminated to AHPs over a 4-week period. Awareness of and confidence with KT was assessed using a 100-mm visual analogue scale.

374 AHPs responded from 12 metropolitan hospitals in Queensland, Australia. Moderate confidence was reported for identifying an evidence-practice gap (median 70 mm, interquartile range [IQR] 50-80 mm), finding relevant literature/evidence (67 mm, 40-84 mm), and sharing evidence with colleagues (70 mm, 50-85 mm). Clinicians were less confident in choosing a KT framework (20 mm, 3-50 mm), implementing a practice change (40 mm, 15-61 mm), assessing barriers and enablers (50 mm, 25-70 mm) and supporting less experienced clinicians undertaking KT (42 mm, 14-68 mm). There was a weak positive correlation between years of experience and confidence in implementing practice change (rho=0.127, p=0.017). A majority of respondents (89%, n=333) reported an interest in learning more about KT.

AHPs were interested in KT but had low confidence in implementing research into practice. These findings identify opportunities to support the training and education needs of AHPs in KT.