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Knowledge translation (KT) in forensic psychiatry is a collaborative process that engages all stakeholders, including knowledge creators like clinicians and researchers as well as patients and their families. Its primary aim is to help bridge the gap between evidence and everyday practice.
A key principle of KT, especially within forensic psychiatry, is that any new knowledge must be adapted to the local context and care setting. Adapting evidence to the needs, priorities, and realities of the people who will use it is essential for implementation and sustained uptake in practice.
KT specialist Diana Marginean shared applying KT principles in a forensic context during her presentation to the International Forensic Psychiatry Lecture Series.
What Is KT?
“Dynamic and iterative process that includes synthesis, dissemination, exchange and ethically-sound application of knowledge to improve the health of Canadians, provide more effective health services and products and strengthen the healthcare system”
Three Broad Categories of Stakeholders
During the process of KT, everybody is a partner and plays a role in the cycle of knowledge to action. Information can move up or down the continuum and sometimes individuals can have more than one role.
Knowledge makers are individuals who create new knowledge. In forensic psychiatry, we can have clinicians, legal professionals, policy-makers, patients, and families along with community stakeholders.
Knowledge brokers foster relationships and communication between knowledge makers and users to support a shared understanding and purpose.
Knowledge users use and apply knowledge to make informed decisions about personal health, professional practice, research, and policy.
Having all stakeholders as partners from the beginning of a project leads to:
- More actionable research results
- Results that are relevant to knowledge users
- Stronger science that is more likely to lead to improved outcomes
- Trust and a shared vision
Types of Knowledge in Forensic Psychiatry
Many types of knowledge can be a part of KT and come from different knowledge stakeholders. They can include:
- Scientific research
- Professional work experience
- Quality improvement data
- Policy and legal knowledge
- Lived experience
All of these types of knowledge are useful for improving the assessment, treatment, and recovery of forensic patients.
KT Strategies in Forensic Psychiatry
The strategies you use to ensure KT is successful and knowledge users can apply the new research or knowledge in an effective way will depend on your audience. For example, here are some of the most successful ways to reach your audience of knowledge users.
- Decision makers need to be informed and consulted from the beginning of a project. Using executive summaries, plain language, and infographics can help to present key information clearly, making it easier to understand, evaluate, and act upon.
- Health care professionals benefit from clear, concise communication that avoids information overload. Building strong relationships and using plain language can help ensure information is relevant, findable, understandable, and useable.
- Patients and families benefit most from information that is specific to their needs, characteristics, and experiences. Delivering information in plain language helps make it accessible, empowering them to understand their options and make informed decisions.
- The public responds well through clear, plain language communication supported by social media and visual content, such as graphics and infographics.
- Researchers rely on peer-reviewed articles and interactive education modules as trusted and effective sources of evidence and knowledge translation.
One of the most powerful tools for KT is the use of plain language summaries. Read more on that in the From Academia to Practice: Why It Matters post Harnessing the Power of Research Through Plain Language Summaries.
Knowledge dissemination and knowledge implementation fall under the umbrella term of KT but are distinct in their definitions.
- Knowledge dissemination refers to the strategies that make knowledge understandable to the knowledge user and can include workshops, webinars, guidelines, and policy briefs — a more passive way of sharing information.
- Knowledge implementation refers to strategies that promote the adoption and integration of the knowledge into practice in the setting.
In other words, it is “how do we get the knowledge out there” (dissemination) versus “how do we make people actually use it.”
Models and Frameworks in KT
Putting everything together — including all types of knowledge in forensic psychiatry along with knowledge makers, knowledge brokers, and knowledge users — highlights the importance of using structured KT frameworks that can help guide thinking. Several well-established models can support this work, including the Knowledge-to-action model, Leading Change Toolkit, and the KT and Exchange Framework.
For more details, watch the recording of the October 2, 2025, lecture, “From Evidence to Action: Knowledge Translation in Forensic Psychiatry” on our website.
Written by Diana Marginean.
