Purpose: Barriers to moving evidence into clinical practice have been widely reported in the literature. Engaging clinicians as knowledge brokers (KBs) has been proposed to help address these barriers; however, research investigating the feasibility of the KB strategy in communication sciences and disorders is limited. Method: This project aimed to investigate the feasibility of using a KB strategy to support clinicians in one large preschool communicative health care system in learning about a new clinical tool. Regional representatives from across the program participated as KBs. KBs received training on the new tool and strategies to support local dissemination. After KBs shared the new tool with their staff, they completed a survey to report their perceptions of the acceptability, adaptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the KB strategy. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively, and an inductive content analysis was used for the qualitative data. Results: The KB strategy was viewed as an acceptable, adaptable, appropriate, and feasible way to support clinicians' learning at local levels, and KBs felt this strategy should be considered for future dissemination initiatives. While KBs noted successes in sharing new information with their staff, they also experienced barriers relating to organizational factors, the KB strategy, and the new clinical tool. Conclusions: Findings suggest that engaging clinical end users as KBs may be a promising way of supporting dissemination initiatives in large communicative health care systems. Future work should investigate the impact of the KB strategy on clinicians' practice and the application of the KB strategy across other settings and initiatives.
Csercsics et al. (Mon,) studied this question.