Comparison of determinants of research knowledge utilization by practitioners and administrators in the field of child and family social services

Background An important gap exists between research production and its utilization. Few studies have examined the factors affecting knowledge utilization in the field of child and family social services. Methods The objectives of the study are to describe knowledge utilization by child protection administrators and practitioners (N = 477) and to compare factors related to knowledge utilization by these two occupational groups. The study was conducted with an adapted version of the Questionnaire sur l'utilisation des connaissances (Knowledge Utilization Questionnaire). Factor analysis was used to collapse data collected on the questionnaire items. Factor score for each respondent served as independent variables in three separate multivariate regression analyses to explore variables likely to predict research-based knowledge utilization. Results A minority of respondents (18%) report using on a frequent basis research-based knowledge in their practice. Relational capital between researchers and users and perceived usefulness of research based knowledge were the two factors most strongly related to utilization. There was a specificity in the factors associated with knowledge utilization according to occupational groups in child protection organizations. Use of active knowledge transfer strategies was associated with knowledge utilization by practitioners, while knowledge dissemination efforts played a more significant role for administrators. Conclusion These results encourage both the use of strategies differentiated according to users and the intensification of interactions between users and researchers to foster research knowledge utilization.