title: Barriers, facilitators, strategies and outcomes to engaging policymakers, healthcare managers and policy analysts in knowledge synthesis: a scoping review protocol.
abstract: Engaging policymakers, healthcare managers and policy analysts in the conduct of knowledge synthesis can help increase its impact. This is particularly important for knowledge synthesis studies commissioned by decision-makers with limited timelines, as well as reviews of health policy and systems research. A scoping review will be conducted to assess barriers, facilitators, strategies and outcomes of engaging these individuals in the knowledge synthesis process.
  
  
  
  We will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute guidance for scoping reviews. Literature searches of electronic databases (eg, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, ERIC, PsycINFO) will be conducted from inception onwards. The electronic search will be supplemented by searching for sources that index unpublished/difficult to locate studies (eg, GreyNet International database), as well as through scanning of reference lists of reviews on related topics. All study designs using either qualitative or quantitative methodologies will be eligible if there is a description of the strategies, barriers or facilitators, and outcomes of engaging policymakers, healthcare managers and policy analysts in the knowledge synthesis process. Screening and data abstraction will be conducted by 2 team members independently after a calibration exercise across the team. A third team member will resolve all discrepancies. We will conduct frequency analysis and thematic analysis to chart and characterise the literature, identifying data gaps and opportunities for future research, as well as implications for policy.
  
  
  
  This project was commissioned by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, WHO. The results will be used by Alliance Review Centers of health policy and systems research in low-income and middle-income countries that are conducting knowledge synthesis to inform health policymaking and decision-making. Our results will also be disseminated through conference presentations, train-the-trainer events, peer-reviewed publication and a 1-page policy brief that will be posted on the authors' websites.
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.|Epidemiology Division, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Tricco
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Wasifa
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zarin
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rios
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Ba'
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Sharon E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Straus
authors.affiliation: Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Etienne V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Langlois
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D006291:Health Policy; D006298:Health Services Administration; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D011050:Policy Making; D012106:Research; D012107:Research Design; D000073597:Stakeholder Participation; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D000098584:Scoping Reviews as Topic
keywords: engaging; knowledge synthesis; knowledge translation; policy maker; scoping review