Extending collaborations for knowledge translation: lessons from the community-based participatory research literature

The purpose of this paper is to expand the current focus on researcher–decision maker knowledge translation (KT) partnerships to include community partners. Lessons were drawn from the community-based participatory research literature. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted, using 42 eligible articles, and resulted in the identification of four themes (principles, structure, process and relationships) and associated factors that could contribute to KT collaborations among the three groups of actors. These findings are presented in a KT Triad framework. Thus, the framework provides specific lessons to facilitate researcher– decision maker–community collaborations based on an established body of literature. Including community partners in the KT process is important for integrating community context and needs into research-to-policy deliberations.