To date, most efforts to translate research into health care practice have had only modest success. In response to this, the authors summarize what is known about moving knowledge into action, and the implications for rehabilitation medicine. There is increasing evidence that simple knowledge transfer alone is rarely effective. Instead, if research is to be used, it must answer important questions of concern to knowledge users, and it must be integrated with contextual evidence in order to become actionable in a specific setting. This type of research requires genuine participation of knowledge users (i.e. managers, practitioners, and patients) starting at the beginning of the research process. Thus, the authors conclude that the field needs to provide greater incentives for this type of collaborative research.

Bowen, S. J., & Graham, I. D. (2012). From knowledge translation to engaged scholarship: Promoting research relevance and utilization. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 94(1, Supplement 1), S3-S8. Full Text.