Abstract:
Communities of practice are commonly used to support members in responding to public health issues. This study evaluated the outcomes of five co-designed communities of practice to determine if members\' expectations were met, if knowledge sharing between members extended to knowledge translation, and if that supported members in addressing public health issues. Data were collected through an initial needs assessment, observations were made during community of practice sessions over 1 year, and qualitative interviews were conducted at the end of that year. The findings provided evidence that members\' expectations were met, knowledge sharing took place within the communities of practice, and personal benefits gained supported members in advancing knowledge sharing with other members to knowledge translation outside their community of practice. Results demonstrate three outcomes of knowledge translation for members: disseminating knowledge to others, applying knowledge to make small-scale changes in practice and leveraging the knowledge to expand its reach beyond members\' organizations. While the scale and speed of expanding outcomes were below initial expectations as indicated in the initial needs assessments, members remained optimistic about achieving larger-scale impacts in the future. This study showed that communities of practice achieve gradual progress rather than quick wins. Co-design supports the facilitators in meeting members\' needs, which can positively contribute to members sharing knowledge and translating that knowledge to support their practice to address public health issues.
摘要:
实践社区通常用于支持成员应对公共卫生问题。本研究评估了五个共同设计的实践社区的结果,以确定是否满足成员的期望,如果成员之间的知识共享扩展到知识翻译,如果这支持成员解决公共卫生问题。数据是通过初步需求评估收集的,在为期一年的实践社区会议期间进行了观察,并在该年底进行了定性访谈。调查结果提供了证据,表明成员的期望得到了满足,知识共享发生在实践社区内,和获得的个人利益支持成员将与其他成员的知识共享推进到其实践社区之外的知识翻译。结果显示了成员知识翻译的三个结果:向他人传播知识,运用知识在实践中做出小规模的改变,并利用知识将其影响范围扩大到成员组织之外。虽然如初步需求评估所示,扩大成果的规模和速度低于最初的预期,成员们对未来实现更大规模的影响仍然乐观。这项研究表明,实践社区实现了渐进的进步,而不是快速的胜利。共同设计支持促进者满足成员的需求,这可以积极促进成员分享知识和翻译这些知识,以支持他们解决公共卫生问题的做法。