Knowledge translation and occupational therapy: A survey of Canadian university programs

While Canadian occupational therapy recognizes knowledge translation (KT) as essential to clinical interactions, there has been little attention paid to KT activity in education and research. The objective of this study was to identify the nature of KT activities in which Canadian occupational therapy faculty engage. An electronic survey was sent to faculty at 14 Canadian occupational therapy programs to explore the nature of KT activities, including research, education, strategies, evaluation, and barriers and facilitators. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results show that faculty engage in a range of KT activities, with conferences and peer-reviewed publications being the most common. Faculty collaborate frequently with researchers at their institutions and favor both integrated and end-of-grant KT. Collaboration and personal interest were identified as facilitators; time and funding were seen as barriers. Understanding the profile of KT activity across universities creates opportunities for developing institutional and pan-Canadian plans to enhance KT training and capacity.