Background: There is now a well-established and growing body of literature that suggests there is a strong imperative for the inclusion of knowledge users in evidence syntheses related to health-related issues. Many benefits have been associated with the inclusion of knowledge users in the development, conduct and reporting of evidence syntheses, such as less research waste through increasing research relevance, increased transparency and rigor, increased engagement and trust, and improved dissemination of the findings and potential for impact. Challenges, however, include increased time to review and completion, recruitment of knowledge users, the provision of support, training, and guidance for knowledge users in the conduct and process of research and evidence synthesis, and the financial implications of these steps.
Objectives: A descriptive survey was developed to identify evidence synthesist’s perceptions regarding the involvement of knowledge users in the production of evidence syntheses. The survey was administered online via Qualtrics and included both closed and open-ended questions. Demographic data and responses to the Likert scale questions related to awareness were represented in simple numerical terms and open-ended questions were subject to thematic analysis.
Results: The results of this study indicate that there is still a wide and varied understanding of knowledge users, including how they are defined, utilisation of terminology, and levels and strategies for engagement. While there was broad agreement that knowledge user engagement is the right thing to do there is still work to be done to consolidate an approach and provide practical resources to support this activity across global evidence networks.
Conclusions: Co-production of evidence syntheses with relevant knowledge users is important to the evidence-based agenda, making research more inclusive, diverse, equitable, and impactful. Ensuring all relevant perspectives and experiences are represented on a review team is valuable but challenging and those working in the field still require assistance to achieve meaningful engagement.