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Abstract

The health of Canadians is improved when the public, healthcare providers, and policymakers have access to and incorporate the best available research evidence in their decision making. However, there is delay between when research is ready and when uptake occurs. The knowledge translation field addresses this delay by investigating theories, methods, tools, and strategies for enhancing evidence use. My research aims to advance knowledge translation in the context of abortion research. Using integrated knowledge translation as my framework, I achieve this aim through four independent studies that were emergent, responding to knowledge user needs that arose within the Contraception and Abortion Research Team. In Chapter 2, I report a realist evaluation of how integrated knowledge translation worked to reduce policy barriers to the implementation of medication abortion. Key mechanisms for success include motivation, reputation, strategic partnership, understanding and targeting policy levers, and convening a coalition of key groups. In Chapter 3, I report a qualitative interview study exploring how researchers, advocates, and policymakers percieve storytelling as a strategy for knowledge translation with policymakers. I identify themes that suggest that storytelling is used in policy settings, and that there are diverse perspectives on whether and how this approach should be used in knowledge translation. In Chapter 4, I report a multi-cycle mixed methods study to develop and evaluate the usability of a patient decision aid for choice of early abortion method. The final version is an interactive website, which patient and healthcare provider participants indicated had good usability and would support decision making. In Chapter 5, I report the development of a model of abortion information seeking based on qualitative interviews with potential abortion seekers. The model illustrates that socio-cultural context shapes the abortion knowledge people have, the information needs that arise when faced with an unplanned pregnancy, and how they seek and evaluate information. Taken together, these results contribute knowledge translation strategies for policymaker audiences, a rich description of the application of realist evaluation to integrated knowledge translation, and approaches for knowledge translation about abortion. The dissertation also offers a perspective on the trainee experience in knowledge translation.