My KT approach: Improving the school food environment

My health promotion topic is related to improving the school food environment in Ontario, specifically through policy revision and enhancement.  Paterson, Lagosky, & Mason (2018) suggest that knowledge translation (KT) is a strategy aiming to bridge the gap between research and practical application through synthesizing, sharing, and implementing knowledge in order to improve outcomes.  They argue that KT requires collaboration between researchers and knowledge users through tailored strategies and stakeholder involvement to ensure knowledge gained through research is effectively adopted.  In thinking about the use of KT to improve the school food environment, some examples could be:

·      Health planners can use newsletters, posters, announcements, or assemblies to educate students and teachers about the reasons and strategies for improving the school environment.

·      Health planners can collaborate with public health agencies to ensure all food service workers and vendors in schools receive training on improving the school food environment.

Nguyen et al., (2020) suggest that integrated knowledge translation (iKT) is an approach to research that is collaborative, focused on engaging stakeholders such as knowledge users throughout the research process.   They suggest that that the goal of iKT is the promotion of practical change, and that it differs from other approaches such as co-creation in that it was developed within health research in Canada and emphasizes the use of knowledge.   In thinking about the use of iKT to improve the school food environment, some ideas and examples could be:

·      Health planners can partner with farmers' markets, vendors, and health agencies to improve options offered in schools and educate students and staff on healthy eating.

·      Health planners can engage students, parents, and community members in revising school food policies through surveys or interviews.

These KT and iKT approaches are practical, stakeholder-focused, and address the knowledge-to-action gap. iKT examples, in particular, highlight shared ownership and collaboration to improve school food environments.

References:

Nguyen, T., Graham, I. D., Mrklas, K. J., Bowen, S., Cargo, M., Estabrooks, C. A., Kothari, A., Lavis, J., Macaulay, A. C., MacLeod, M., Phipps, D., Ramsden, V. R., Renfrew, M. J., Salsberg, J., & Wallerstein, N. (2020). How does integrated knowledge translation (IKT) compare to other collaborative research approaches to generating and translating knowledge? Learning from experts in the field. Health Research Policy and Systems, 18(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-020-0539-6

Paterson, M., Lagosky, S., & Mason, R. (2018). Health promotion and knowledge translation: two roads to the same destination?. Global Health Promotion, 25(3), 65–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757975916665340