Facilitating knowledge translation and exchange within school health systems

Schools are an essential setting to promote healthy behaviours and many jurisdictions have adopted policies to guide school health. Knowledge translation (KT) is an essential component of health research. KT strategies can provide insight on changes needed to enhance policy decisions and practice change through encouraging collaboration between researchers and decision makers. Many KT activities related to school health are underway in Canada but there are a number of barriers that prevent the uptake of evidence including the competing cultures and priorities across policy and research settings. The Province of Nova Scotia (NS) offers a timely and useful case study for investigating and augmenting KT related to school health. I will capitalize on a partnership with the NS Departments of Education and Health and Wellness and work across research and policy settings to respond to KT research objectives. First, I will assess system-level barriers to KT and identify opportunities to enhance collaboration by engaging in policy discussions and gather knowledge from policy makers on school system issues. Second, I will contextualize evidence into KT tools to inform policy decisions and practice change by identifying emergent priorities of the school system that align with existing research evidence. This knowledge will be used to inform the development of accessible publications and contextualize existing evidence into KT tools. Finally, I will evaluate the impact of KT tools on policy and practice to understand factors influencing knowledge use using various policy and practice change indicators. My KT fellowship will inform subsequent research projects and help to bridge the worlds of research, policy and practice and advance school strategies to promote healthy behaviours.