Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29524952›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of health policy and management2018

Using Complexity and Network Concepts to Inform Healthcare Knowledge Translation.

Alison Kitson, Alan Brook, Gill Harvey, Zoe Jordan, Rhianon Marshall, Rebekah O'Shea, David Wilson

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of health policy and management, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
64citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

64 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Co-Design With Mothers and Professionals to Enhance Care for Mothers Experiencing Adversity: Development of the METIC Model.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026
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  12. An analysis of spatial and temporal uncertainty propagation in agent-based models.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2025
    Article
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4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Alison KitsonAdelaide Nursing School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Alan BrookAdelaide Dental School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Gill HarveyAdelaide Nursing School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Zoe JordanFaculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The Joanna Briggs Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Rhianon MarshallAdelaide Nursing School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Rebekah O'SheaAdelaide Nursing School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
David WilsonAdelaide Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Many representations of the movement of healthcare knowledge through society exist, and multiple models for the translation of evidence into policy and practice have been articulated. Most are linear or cyclical and very few come close to reflecting the dense and intricate relationships, systems and politics of organizations and the processes required to enact sustainable improvements. We illustrate how using complexity and network concepts can better inform knowledge translation (KT) and argue that changing the way we think and talk about KT could enhance the creation and movement of knowledge throughout those systems needing to develop and utilise it. From our theoretical refinement, we propose that KT is a complex network composed of five interdependent sub-networks, or clusters, of key processes (problem identification [PI], knowledge creation [KC], knowledge synthesis [KS], implementation [I], and evaluation [E]) that interact dynamically in different ways at different times across one or more sectors (community; health; government; education; research for example). We call this the KT Complexity Network, defined as a network that optimises the effective, appropriate and timely creation and movement of knowledge to those who need it in order to improve what they do. Activation within and throughout any one of these processes and systems depends upon the agents promoting the change, successfully working across and between multiple systems and clusters. The case is presented for moving to a way of thinking about KT using complexity and network concepts. This extends the thinking that is developing around integrated KT approaches. There are a number of policy and practice implications that need to be considered in light of this shift in thinking.

Indexed as

Delivery of Health CareTranslational Research, BiomedicalHumansKnowledgeComplex Adaptive Systems (CASs)ComplexityEvidence-Based PracticeImplementation ScienceIntegrated Knowledge TranslationKnowledge Translation (KT)Networks

Identifiers

PMID29524952
PMCPMC5890068

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.