Knowledge synthesis, translation and exchange in public health and health promotion: the role of a Cochrane review group

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit organisation that aims to produce high quality systematic reviews of the effectiveness of health interventions. This work is conducted by 51 Review Groups that span a  range of topics (e.g. pregnancy and childbirth, HIV/AIDS). The role of Fields within the Collaboration has been to actively engage relevant stakeholders internationally to improve the quality and relevance of reviews. Since the inception in 1996 of the Cochrane Public Health and Health Promotion Field, the Cochrane Collaboration has begun to embrace reviews related to public health and health promotion and is adapting to the changing needs of end-users. The introduction of a Cochrane health promotion and public health review group will help ensure that reviews will be oriented towards building evidence for equity and reducing inequalities and best meet the needs of decision-makers, practitioners and consumers. Our role as a Field has led to us working with a range of partners including reviewers,  researchers, practitioners and consumers. Knowledge synthesis, translation and exchange (KST&E) has emerged as an issue in need of further  exploration for practice to influence decision-makers and for policy to  influence practitioners. 2007 will be an exciting year for evidence-informed Health Promotion and Public Health (HPPH) both within the Cochrane Collaboration and for our partners in policy, practice and research.

Developing graduate knowledge and skills for the world of work: The case of the translation curriculum in Vietnam

National and global challenges have given rise to the need to prepare Vietnamese graduates for effective adaptation to the increasingly changing professional field, their community, their society and the globalised world. The tertiary education curriculum thus needs to take into account the employment market, socio-cultural demands and students’ individual needs in order to develop highly educated populations for the world of work and for the current knowledge economy.

Based on a case study of the translation curriculum in a B.A. (Bachelors of Arts) language program, this paper addresses the mismatch between the demands of the translation employment market and the curriculum within the context of Vietnamese tertiary education. It raises a number of important issues related to the tensions between the centralised curriculum, learner-centred education, the actual demands of the employment market as well as the issue of capacity building in response to the socialist-oriented market economy and the changing workplace context in Vietnam. Implications are drawn not only for the translation curriculum, but also for the reform of the Vietnamese tertiary education curriculum as a whole, in order to enhance graduate employability.

Trauma-induced coagulopathy in severely injured patients: knowledge lost in translation?

Many guidelines exist on how to treat patients with multiple injuries correctly in an accident and emergency setting. The aim of the present work was to find out how well patients are treated focusing on trauma induced coagulopathy (TIC), and what anaesthetists involved in trauma care think about their own experiences with TIC.

World knowledge in the process of translation

The paper illustrates the role of world knowledge in comprehending and translating texts. A short news item, which displays world knowledge fairly implicitly in condensed lexical forms, was translated by students from English into German. It is shown that their translation strategies changed from a first draft which was rather close to the surface structure of the source text to a final version which took situational aspects, texttypological conventions and the different background knowledge of the respective addressees into account. Decisions on how much world knowledge has to be made explicit in the target text, however, must be based on the relevance principle. Consequences for teaching and for the notions of semantic knowledge and world knowledge are discussed.

Translation of addictions science into practice : update and future directions.

Recent advances in the understanding of the genetic, neurochemical, behavioral and cultural underpinnings of addiction have led to rapid advances in the understanding of addiction as a disease. In fact, advances in basic science and the development of new pharmacological and behavioral therapies associated with them are appearing faster than can be assimilated not only by clinical researchers but practitioners and policy makers as well. Translation of science-based addictions knowledge into improved prevention, assessment and treatment, and communication of these changes to researchers and practitioners are significant challenges to the field. The general aim of this book is to summarize current and potential linkages between advances in addiction science and innovations in clinical practice. Whilst this book is primarily focused on translation, it also encompasses some scientific advances that are relevant to dissemination, and the book is itself a tool for disseminating innovative thinking. The goal is to generate interest in application opportunities from both recent research and theoretical advances.

Translation of addictions science into practice

Recent advances in the understanding of the genetic, neurochemical, behavioral and cultural underpinnings of addiction have led to rapid advances in the understanding of addiction as a disease. In fact, advances in basic science and the development of new pharmacological and behavioral therapies associated with them are appearing faster than can be assimilated not only by clinical researchers but practitioners and policy makers as well. Translation of science-based addictions knowledge into improved prevention, assessment and treatment, and communication of these changes to researchers and practitioners are significant challenges to the field. The general aim of this book is to summarize current and potential linkages between advances in addiction science and innovations in clinical practice. Whilst this book is primarily focused on translation, it also encompasses some scientific advances that are relevant to dissemination, and the book is itself a tool for disseminating innovative thinking. The goal is to generate interest in application opportunities from both recent research and theoretical advances.

The impact of a model of nurse education to improve knowledge and recognition of delirium in older persons by registered nurses

Introduction: Delirium is a serious issue associated with high morbidity and mortality in older hospitalised people. Early recognition enables diagnosis and treatment of underlying cause/s, which can lead to improved patient outcomes. However, research shows knowledge and accurate nurse recognition of delirium and is poor and lack of education appears to be a key issue related to this problem. Thus, the purpose of this randomised controlled trial (RCT) was to evaluate, in a sample of registered nurses, the usability and effectiveness of a web-based learning site, designed using constructivist learning principles, to improve acute care nurse knowledge and recognition of delirium. Prior to undertaking the RCT preliminary phases involving; validation of vignettes, video-taping five of the validated vignettes, website development and pilot testing were completed. Methods: The cluster RCT involved consenting registered nurse participants (N = 175) from twelve clinical areas within three acute health care facilities in Queensland, Australia. Data were collected through a variety of measures and instruments. Primary outcomes were improved ability of nurses to recognise delirium using written validated vignettes and improved knowledge of delirium using a delirium knowledge questionnaire. The secondary outcomes were aimed at determining nurse satisfaction and usability of the website. Primary outcome measures were taken at baseline (T1), directly after the intervention (T2) and two months later (T3). The secondary outcomes were measured at T2 by participants in the intervention group. Following baseline data collection remaining participants were assigned to either the intervention (n=75) or control (n=72) group. Participants in the intervention group were given access to the learning intervention while the control group continued to work in their clinical area and at that time, did not receive access to the learning intervention. Data from the primary outcome measures were examined in mixed model analyses. Results: Overall, the effect of the online learning intervention over time comparing the intervention group and the control group were positive. The intervention groups‘ scores were higher and the change over time results were statistically significant [T3 and T1 (t=3.78 p=<0.001) and T2 and T1 baseline (t=5.83 p=<0.001)]. Statistically significant improvements were also seen for delirium recognition when comparing T2 and T1 results (t=2.58 p=0.012) between the control and intervention group but not for changes in delirium recognition scores between the two groups from T3 and T1 (t=1.80 p=0.074). The majority of the participants rated the website highly on the visual, functional and content elements. Additionally, nearly 80% of the participants liked the overall website features and there were self-reported improvements in delirium knowledge and recognition by the registered nurses in the intervention group. Discussion: Findings from this study support the concept that online learning is an effective and satisfying method of information delivery. Embedded within a constructivist learning environment the site produced a high level of satisfaction and usability for the registered nurse end-users. Additionally, the results showed that the website significantly improved delirium knowledge & recognition scores and the improvement in delirium knowledge was retained at a two month follow-up. Given the strong effect of the intervention the online delirium intervention should be utilised as a way of providing information to registered nurses. It is envisaged that this knowledge would lead to improved recognition of delirium as well as improvement in patient outcomes however; translation of this knowledge attainment into clinical practice was outside the scope of this study. A critical next step is demonstrating the effect of the intervention in changing clinical behaviour, and improving patient health outcomes.

Cross-Lingual knowledge discovery : Chinese-to-English article linking in Wikipedia

In this paper we examine automated Chinese to English link discovery in Wikipedia and the effects of Chinese segmentation and Chinese to English translation on the hyperlink recommendation. Our experimental results show that the implemented link discovery framework can effectively recommend Chinese-to-English cross-lingual links. The techniques described here can assist bi-lingual users where a particular topic is not covered in Chinese, is not equally covered in both languages, or is biased in one language; as well as for language learning.

Constructing a research network : accounting knowledge in production

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the sociology-of-science type of accounting literature, addressing how accounting knowledge is established, advanced and extended. Design/methodology/approach – The research question is answered through the example of research into linkages between accounting and religion. Adopting an actor-network theory (ANT) approach, the paper follows the actors involved in the construction of accounting as an academic discipline through the controversies in which they engage to develop knowledge. Findings – The paper reveals that accounting knowledge is established, advanced and developed through the ongoing mobilisation of nonhumans (journals) who can enrol other humans and nonhumans. It shows that knowledge advancement, establishment and development is more contingent on network breadth than on research paradigms, which appear as side-effects of positioning vis-a-vis a community. Originality/value – The originality of this paper is twofold. First, ANT is applied to accounting knowledge, whereas the accounting literature applies it to the spread of management accounting ideas, methods and practices. Second, an original methodology for data collection is developed by inviting authors from the network to give a reflexive account of their writings at the time they joined the network. Well diffused in sociology and philosophy, such an approach is, albeit, original in accounting research.

Recontextualising policy discourses : a Bernsteinian perspective on policy interpretation, translation, enactment

This paper contributes to critical policy research by theorising one aspect of policy enactment, the meaning making work of a cohort of mid-level policy actors. Specifically, we propose that Basil Bernstein’s work on the structuring of pedagogic discourse, in particular, the concept of recontextualisation, may add to understandings of the policy work of interpretation and translation. Recontextualisation refers to the relational processes of selecting and moving knowledge from one context to another, as well as to the distinctive re-organisation of knowledge as an instructional and regulative or moral discourse. Processes of recontextualisation necessitate an analysis of power and control relations, and therefore add to the Foucauldian theorisations of power that currently dominate the critical policy literature. A process of code elaboration (decoding and recoding) takes place in various recontextualising agencies, responsible for the production of professional development materials, teaching guidelines and curriculum resources. We propose that mid-level policy actors are crucial to the work of policy interpretation and translation because they are engaged in elaborating the condensed codes of policy texts to an imagined logic of teachers’ practical work. To illustrate our theoretical points we draw on data; collected for an Australian research project on the accounts of mid-level policy actors responsible for the interpretation of child protection and safety policies for staff in Queensland schools.

Working knowledge for collaborative water planning in Australia’s Wet Tropics region

Cooperation between multiple environmental decision-makers and activities is necessary to address the impacts of diffuse sources of agricultural pollution on the water quality entering Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Water planning efforts requires available knowledge to inform this co-operative water program implementation and reform. This paper uses knowledge sharing, translation and feedback features of collaboration as a way to assess knowledge work practices during key phases of the water planning process. This enabled a systematic review of knowledge work practices in partnership with collaborative water planning groups established to inform water quality program investment decisions in the GBR’s Wet Tropics region. This research builds on the growing academic and policy interest in the conditions required to enable different types of knowledge to be successfully used for policy-making by focusing on when, how and why knowledge work to meet these conditions is required.

The building blocks of digital media literacy: Socio-material participation and the production of media knowledge

This article outlines the knowledge and skills students develop when they engage in digital media production and analysis in school settings. The metaphor of ‘digital building blocks’ is used to describe the material practices, conceptual understandings and production of knowledge that lead to the development of digital media literacy. The article argues that the two established approaches to media literacy education, critical reading and media production, do not adequately explain how students develop media knowledge. It suggests there has been too little focus on material practices and how these relate to the development of conceptual understanding in media learning. The article explores empirical evidence from a four-year investigation in a primary school in Queensland, Australia using actor–network theory to explore ‘moments of translation’ as students deploy technologies and concepts to materially participate in digital culture. A generative model of media learning is presented with four categories of building blocks that isolate the specific skills and knowledge that can be taught and learnt to promote participation in digital media contexts: digital materials, conceptual understandings, media production and media analysis. The final section of the article makes initial comments on how the model might become the basis for curriculum development in schools and argues that further empirical research needs to occur to confirm the model’s utility.

Actionable climate knowledge: From analysis to synthesis

The traditional reductionist approach to science has a tendency to create 'islands of knowledge in a sea of ignorance', with a much stronger focus on analysis of scientific inputs rather than synthesis of socially relevant outcomes. This might be the principal reason why intended end users of climate information generally fail to embrace what the climate science community has to offer. The translation of climate information into real-life action requires 3 essential components: salience (the perceived relevance of the information), credibility (the perceived technical quality of the information) and legitimacy (the perceived objectivity of the process by which the information is shared). We explore each of these components using 3 case studies focused on dryland cropping in Australia, India and Brazil. In regards to 'salience' we discuss the challenge for climate science to be 'policy-relevant', using Australian drought policy as an example. In a village in southern India 'credibility' was gained through engagement between scientists and risk managers with the aim of building social capital, achieved only at high cost to science institutions. Finally, in Brazil we found that 'legitimacy' is a fragile, yet renewable resource that needs to be part of the package for successful climate applications; legitimacy can be easily eroded but is difficult to recover. We conclude that climate risk management requires holistic solutions derived from cross-disciplinary and participatory, user-oriented research. Approaches that combine climate, agroecological and socioeconomic models provide the scientific capabilities for establishment of 'borderless' institutions without disciplinary constraints. Such institutions could provide the necessary support and flexibility to deliver the social benefits of climate science across diverse contexts. Our case studies show that this type of solution is already being applied, and suggest that the climate science community attempt to address existing institutional constraints, which still impede climate risk management.