Abstract
Background
Effective integration of research evidence and youth perspectives into policy is crucial for supporting the future health and wellbeing of young people. The aim of this project was to translate findings from the Access 3 research studies to support development of a new state policy on youth health and wellbeing within New South Wales, Australia. Ensuring the active contribution of young people within policy development was a key objective of the knowledge translation process.
Methods
The knowledge translation activity consisted of a one-day facilitated workshop with 64 purposively sampled stakeholders. Participants included eight young people, fourteen policymakers, fifteen academics, twenty-two clinicians or managers from New South Wales (NSW) health services, four general practitioners and one mental health service worker. The design of the workshop was guided by the knowledge translation frameworks of Lavis et al [1] and Grimshaw et al [2]. Research findings to be translated came from the NSW Access 3 studies. Participant satisfaction with the workshop was evaluated using a brief self-report survey. Policy uptake was examined through exploratory document analysis of the subsequent NSW Youth Health Framework 2017-2024.
Results
A total of twenty-five policy recommendations were established through the workshop and these were grouped into six themes. The six policy themes were: 1) Technology solutions, 2) Integrated care and investment to build capacity, 3) Adolescent health checks, 4) Workforce, 5) Youth participation, and 6) Youth health indicators. Forum members were asked to vote on the importance of individual recommendations. These policy recommendations were subsequently presented to the NSW Ministry of Health with some evidence of policy uptake identified. The majority of participants rated the forum positively.
Conclusions
The utilisation of knowledge translation theories and active youth engagement led to the successful transfer of research evidence and youth perspectives into NSW youth health policy. Future research should examine the implementation of policy arising from these knowledge translation efforts.
Building evidence into youth health policy: a case study of the access 3 knowledge translation forum
