In response to some feedback I recently received on one of my blogs, I have begun to think about their purpose. I view them as a way for us to chronicle our journey as we develop CAPTURE, share some of the thinking that frames our work, and invite others to offer suggestions that would help us along our way. In many ways, blogs are similar to one of the features we are developing for CAPTURE – reflective practice.
One of the things that CAPTURE wants to do, as our name states (Canadian platform to increase the usage of real world evidence), is increase the use of real world evidence. We not only want to make it easier for health promotion practitioners to use evidence (by generating it themselves through doing evaluations), we also want to expand the availability of different “types of evidence” that would help practitioners implement their programs.
When we went to the real world to find out about the evidence practitioners want, they told us they wanted “experiential information.” So we are now trying to figure out how to capture experiential information.
The Repository of International Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Prevention Interventions Database has come up with one strategy. When inputting interventions, practitioners are asked a series of questions about their interventions that include:
- What are/were the main difficulties of the initiative?
- What critical points does anyone who implements this initiative need to know?
- What lessons would you like to share on recruitment/reaching the primary target group?
- If you were to repeat the initiative, describe one thing you would do differently?
CAPTURE wants to find a way to make it easy to collect this type of information and find a way to package it so it is more accessible. We have begun to review the literature on reflective practice because we believe this would offer guidance on developing the features on CAPTURE that would support the collection of “experiential information. ” We are also hosting a think tank at the upcoming Science of Implementation and Dissemination Conference. At the think tank we will be asking our audience to work through a number of issues like:
- What aspects of practitioner experience in program implementation should be captured?
- How can we facilitate practitioners reflecting on and recording their experiences?
- How can we turn this tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge that can be used to inform practice?
If you are not able to join us at the conference, please consider reflecting or blogging on these questions and helping us find a way to capture this type of practitioner-based knowledge.
