The answer is 17 years, what is the question: understanding time lags in translational research

Abstract Background: Over the last two decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed a global strategy and initiatives to build robust capacity for a Health Research System (HRS) focusing on Health Research Quality and Standardization (HRQS), Health Research Knowledge Transfer and Dissemination (HRKTD), and Health Research Translation and Utilization into Health Care Decisions and Policies (HRTUDP). Despite the expansion of health research productivity for several decades, HRS Capacity (HRSC) in Palestine and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region generally has rarely been objectively evaluated. This study aims at eliciting the perceptions of HRS performers in Palestine in order to understand the status of the capacities of HRS, identify gaps, and to generate policies and solutions capable of strengthening HRSC in Palestine.Methods: Purposive methods were used in this qualitative study to identify key informants from three sectors; government, academia, and local and international organizations. Fifty-two in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants and a total of fifty-two individuals participated in six focus groups. Data were analyzed by using MAXQDA 12.Results: The overall pattern of the Palestinian HRS capacities is relatively weak. The key findings revealed that while HR productivity in Palestine is improving, HRQS is at an average level and quality guidelines are not followed due to paucity of understanding, policies, resources. HRKTD is a central challenge with both a dearth of conceptualization of translational science and inadequate implementation. The factors related to inadequate HRKTD include lack of awareness on the part of the researchers; inadequate regulatory frameworks and mechanisms for both communication and collaboration between and among researchers and policy-makers and clinicians; lack of availability of and credibility in systematized and reliable HR data. Despite the limited knowledge translation, in general, HRTUDP is not considered as an essential decision-making methodology mainly due to lack of knowledge producers and policy-makers interface, understanding level, HR credibility and availability of applied research, and governance, resources, and political fluctuations. A consolidating regulatory framework and an effective capacity strengthening strategy to promote HRQS as well as an understanding of concepts and practices of translational science and, most importantly, the use of findings for evidence-based policies and practice are substantial recommendations to make HRS well-capacitated and strengthened. Conclusions: Strengthening HRSC is both an imperative step and an opportunity to improve the Palestinian health system based on research evidence and knowledge. Building a successful HRS characterized by capacities of high-quality research and well-disseminated and translated knowledge is a prerequisite to effective health systems and services. This can be achieved by a political commitment to support such strengthening, consolidated leadership and governance structure, and a strong operational capacity strengthening strategy.

Download Full-text

State of Research Quality and Knowledge Transfer and Translation and Capacity Strengthening Strategies for Sound Health Policy Decision-Making in Palestine

International Journal of Public Health ◽

10.3389/ijph.2021.620425 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 66 ◽

Author(s):

Mohammed AlKhaldi ◽

Hamza Meghari ◽

Irene Anne Jillson ◽

Abdulsalam Alkaiyat ◽

Marcel Tanner

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Knowledge Transfer ◽

Health Research ◽

World Health ◽

Research Quality ◽

Research Translation ◽

Translational Science ◽

Research Knowledge ◽

Capacity Strengthening ◽

Key Informants

Objectives: Over the last 2 decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed a global strategy and initiatives to establish a Health Research System (HRS) focusing on Health Research Quality and Standardization (HRQS), Health Research Knowledge Transfer and Dissemination (HRKTD), and Health Research Translation and Utilization into Health Care Decisions and Policies (HRTUDP). Despite the increase in health research productivity over the past several decades, HRS Capacity (HRSC) in Palestine and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has rarely been objectively evaluated. This study aims at eliciting the perceptions of HRS performers in Palestine in order to understand the status of HRSC, identify gaps, and generate policies and solutions capable of strengthening HRSC in Palestine.Methods: Key informants from three sectors, namely government, academia, and local and international organizations, were selected purposively based on different sampling methods: criterion, critical case, snowball, and homogeneous sampling. Fifty-two in-depth interviews with key informants and a total of fifty-two individuals, participating in six focus groups, were conducted by the principal investigator in Palestine. Data were analyzed by using MAXQDA 12.Results: The overall pattern of the Palestinian HRSC is relatively weak. The key findings revealed that while HR productivity in Palestine is improving, HRQS is at an average level and quality guidelines are not followed due to paucity of understanding, policies, and resources. HRKTD is a central challenge with both a dearth of conceptualization of translational science and inadequate implementation. The factors related to inadequate HRKTD include lack of awareness on the part of the researchers, inadequate regulatory frameworks and mechanisms for both communication and collaboration between and among researchers and policy-makers and clinicians, and lack of availability of, and credibility in, systematized and reliable HR data. Despite the limited knowledge translation, in general, HRTUDP is not considered an essential decision-making methodology mainly due to the lack of interface between knowledge producers (researchers) and users (policymakers), understanding level, HR credibility and availability of applied research, and governance, resources, and political fluctuations. Recommendations to strengthen HRS in Palestine include: a consolidated research regulatory framework and an effective capacity strengthening strategy overseen by Palestinian authorities; the promotion of HRQS and concepts and practices of translational science; and, most importantly, the use of findings for evidence-based policies and practice.Conclusion: Strengthening HRSC is both an imperative step and an opportunity to improve the Palestinian health system and ensure it is based on research evidence and knowledge. Building a successful HRS characterized by capacities of high-quality research and well-disseminated and translated knowledge is a prerequisite to effective health systems and services. This can be achieved by political commitment to support such strengthening, a consolidated leadership and governance structure, and a strong operational capacity strengthening strategy.

Download Full-text

Health Research Capacities in Palestine: High-quality and Proper Knowledge Transfer and Translation for Sound Decision-making

10.21203/rs.2.21662/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mohammed AlKhaldi ◽

Hamza Meghari ◽

Irene Anne Jillson ◽

Abdulsalam Alkaiyat ◽

Marcel Tanner

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Knowledge Transfer ◽

Health Research ◽

World Health ◽

Research Translation ◽

Translational Science ◽

High Quality ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Capacity Strengthening ◽

Key Informants

Abstract Background: Over the last two decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed a global strategy and initiatives to build robust capacity for a Health Research System (HRS) focusing on Health Research Quality and Standardization (HRQS), Health Research Knowledge Transfer and Dissemination (HRKTD), and Health Research Translation and Utilization into Health Care Decisions and Policies (HRTUDP). Despite the expansion of health research productivity for several decades, HRS Capacity (HRSC) in Palestine and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region generally has rarely been objectively evaluated. This study aims at eliciting the perceptions of HRS performers in Palestine in order to understand the status of the capacities of HRS, identify gaps, and to generate policies and solutions capable of strengthening HRSC in Palestine.Methods: Purposive methods were used in this qualitative study to identify key informants from three sectors; government, academia, and local and international organizations. Fifty-two in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants and a total of fifty-two individuals participated in six focus groups. Data were analyzed by using MAXQDA 12.Results: The overall pattern of the Palestinian HRS capacities is relatively weak. The key findings revealed that while HR productivity in Palestine is improving, HRQS is at an average level and quality guidelines are not followed due to paucity of understanding, policies, resources. HRKTD is a central challenge with both a dearth of conceptualization of translational science and inadequate implementation. The factors related to inadequate HRKTD include lack of awareness on the part of the researchers; inadequate regulatory frameworks and mechanisms for both communication and collaboration between and among researchers and policy-makers and clinicians; lack of availability of and credibility in systematized and reliable HR data. Despite the limited knowledge translation, in general, HRTUDP is not considered as an essential decision-making methodology mainly due to lack of knowledge producers and policy-makers interface, understanding level, HR credibility and availability of applied research, and governance, resources, and political fluctuations. A consolidating regulatory framework and an effective capacity strengthening strategy to promote HRQS as well as an understanding of concepts and practices of translational science and, most importantly, the use of findings for evidence-based policies and practice are substantial recommendations to make HRS well-capacitated and strengthened. Conclusions: Strengthening HRSC is both an imperative step and an opportunity to improve the Palestinian health system based on research evidence and knowledge. Building a successful HRS characterized by capacities of high-quality research and well-disseminated and translated knowledge is a prerequisite to effective health systems and services. This can be achieved by a political commitment to support such strengthening, consolidated leadership and governance structure, and a strong operational capacity strengthening strategy.

Download Full-text

A Survey on Document-level Neural Machine Translation

ACM Computing Surveys ◽

10.1145/3441691 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 54 (2) ◽

pp. 1-36

Author(s):

Sameen Maruf ◽

Fahimeh Saleh ◽

Gholamreza Haffari

Keyword(s):

Machine Translation ◽

Language Processing ◽

Research Field ◽

Translation Process ◽

Future Directions ◽

Translation Quality ◽

Current State ◽

Evaluation Strategies ◽

Almost All ◽

Document Level

Machine translation (MT) is an important task in natural language processing (NLP), as it automates the translation process and reduces the reliance on human translators. With the resurgence of neural networks, the translation quality surpasses that of the translations obtained using statistical techniques for most language-pairs. Up until a few years ago, almost all of the neural translation models translated sentences independently , without incorporating the wider document-context and inter-dependencies among the sentences. The aim of this survey article is to highlight the major works that have been undertaken in the space of document-level machine translation after the neural revolution, so researchers can recognize the current state and future directions of this field. We provide an organization of the literature based on novelties in modelling and architectures as well as training and decoding strategies. In addition, we cover evaluation strategies that have been introduced to account for the improvements in document MT, including automatic metrics and discourse-targeted test sets. We conclude by presenting possible avenues for future exploration in this research field.

Download Full-text

Task Force on Design and Analysis in Oral Health Research: Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw

JDR Clinical & Translational Research ◽

10.1177/2380084418770662 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 222-225 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

S. Ruggiero ◽

D. Saxena ◽

S. Tetradis ◽

T. Aghaloo ◽

E. Ioannidou

Keyword(s):

Oral Health ◽

Knowledge Transfer ◽

Health Research ◽

Patient Management ◽

Task Force ◽

Osteonecrosis Of The Jaw ◽

Clinical Protocols

Knowledge Transfer Statement: This article discusses the proceedings of the conference organized by the Task Force on Design and Analysis in Oral Health Research on the understanding of the translational evidence on the etiology and pathogenesis of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw as well as the clinical protocols on patient management.

Download Full-text

Moving Beyond a One-Size-Fits-All View of Positive Affect in Health Research

Current Directions in Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0963721418760214 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (5) ◽

pp. 339-344 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Sarah D. Pressman ◽

Marie P. Cross

Keyword(s):

Positive Affect ◽

Health Research ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Complex Picture

Although the literature that connects positive affect (PA) to health has exploded over the last 20 years, the approach to studying this topic has remained simplistic. Specifically, researchers overwhelmingly rely on the principle that all PA is healthful, all of the time. Here, we review recent studies indicating that a more nuanced approach is valuable. In particular, we demonstrate that a more thoughtful approach to factors such as arousal, culture, timing, and measurement type results in a more complex picture of when PA is helpful and when it is not. Taking these issues into account also has implications for the types of mechanisms underlying these associations, as well as how other moderators might operate. Thus, we argue that considering these gradations will allow researchers to develop successful and theoretically based health interventions, untangle mixed findings, and enable a deeper understanding of the connection between PA and health.

Download Full-text

Of mice and mental health: facilitating dialogue and seeing further

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2017.0022 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 373 (1742) ◽

pp. 20170022 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Amy L. Milton ◽

Emily A. Holmes

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Translational Research ◽

Health Research ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Mental Health Disorders ◽

Mental Health Research ◽

Mental Life ◽

Clinical Diagnoses ◽

Health Disorders ◽

New Treatments

The science of mental life is critical for understanding both how we function, and impairments in our functioning. However, understanding the causal mechanisms underlying mental health disorders and developing new treatments are challenges too great to be solved by any individual approach. There is a growing awareness that translational research—from laboratory to patient and back again to animal models—will be critical for the improved understanding and treatment of mental health disorders. The motivation and intention to pursue translational approaches is therefore strong in mental health research, but critically, opportunities for interaction between basic scientists and clinicians are relatively limited, and vary depending on the institution in which researchers are working. This has promoted the development of a ‘culture gap’ between basic and clinical scientists that limits interaction and sharing of knowledge. Here, we provide 14 examples of contemporary translational research and call for an increased collaborative approach to mental health research that spans clinical diagnoses, levels of analysis and bridges between basic to clinical mental health sciences, including, but not limited to, psychology and neuroscience. What is needed is an inclusive and integrated approach, bringing together scientists working at all levels of enquiry with clinicians providing insights on what works (and what does not). To stimulate the much-needed innovation in therapeutic techniques, an analysis of component parts is critical. Our approach suggests simplifying complex behaviours into distinct psychological components. Asking collaboratively driven scientific questions about dysfunction will also benefit our fundamental understanding of mental life. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Of mice and mental health: facilitating dialogue between basic and clinical neuroscientists'.

Download Full-text

Supporting Mental Health in Youth Sport: Introducing a Toolkit for Coaches, Clubs, and Organisations

International Sport Coaching Journal ◽

10.1123/iscj.2021-0042 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Courtney C. Walton ◽

Serena Carberry ◽

Michael Wilson ◽

Rosemary Purcell ◽

Lisa Olive ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Young People ◽

Youth Sport ◽

Well Being ◽

Research Translation ◽

Translation Process ◽

Recreational Sport ◽

Sports Clubs ◽

First Response ◽

High Participation

The mental health of young people is of increasing concern, and early intervention prevention strategies are required. Youth sports are potentially effective environments within which to situate interventions due to high participation rates, familiarity to young participants, and the typically positive relationships held with adults within such spaces. However, coaches identify that they require more knowledge to better respond to mental health concerns that may be present among players. Here, we describe a research translation process in which an open-access, evidence-informed resource was developed to support coaches and sports clubs to better respond to athletes in need as well as to create environments that may protect against mental ill-health and promote well-being. The resource includes a toolkit—with an associated checklist—for recreational sport clubs to follow, a guide to responding to young people in need, and a short educational video. We suggest that these practical and applied resources, which can be immediately implemented, may assist in the provision of targeted and structured guidance for coaches’ first response intervention with vulnerable young people. Furthermore, these resources can support future efforts by being specifically tailored for the unique locations and cultures that vary among youth sport environments.

Download Full-text

Knowledge Transfer Issues in Teaching

Innovation and Shifting Perspectives in Management Education - Advances in Human Resources Management and Organizational Development ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-1019-2.ch003 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 58-78 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Neeta Baporikar

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Transfer ◽

Management Practices ◽

Real Life ◽

Research Knowledge ◽

Professional Schools ◽

Current State ◽

Theory To Practice ◽

Knowledge Management Practices ◽

Organizational Science ◽

Practical Implications

Professional schools typically build their raison d'être on the mission of developing knowledge that can be translated into skills that advance the practice of the professions. On the other hand practitioners fail to adopt the findings of research in fields be it medicine, management or engineering. Further, knowledge created is not always in the usage mode, that too in real life practical situation. Action scientists focused on the characteristics and behaviors of researchers to explain this lack of implementation of research knowledge. Identifying the major gaps between scientific knowledge and actual knowledge transfer issues is crucial in today's scenario. Hence, the purpose of this chapter is to identify knowledge transfer issues, discuss the issues and advancements therein, and highlight practical implications of relating theory to practice with focus on management discipline. The issues discussed herein are not only of utmost importance but crucial for understanding, given the current state of management education, organizational science and knowledge management practices.

Download Full-text