TY - JOUR PY - 2011// TI - "It's a Feel. That's What a Lot of Our Evidence Would Consist of ": Public Health Practitioners' Perspectives on Evidence JO - Evaluation and the health professions A1 - Higgins, Joan Wharf A1 - Strange, Karen A1 - Scarr, Jennifer A1 - Pennock, Michael A1 - Barr, Victoria A1 - Yew, Ann A1 - Drummond, Janine A1 - Terpstra, Jennifer SP - 278 EP - 296 VL - 34 IS - 3 N2 - This article describes how evidence is defined and used in two British Columbia public health departments during the implementation of a Healthy Living initiative in 2009. Through interviews with 21 public health staff and decision makers, the author sought to investigate how "evidence" was defined by both frontline and management staff and how it was used in decision making. The authors found public health staff, particularly frontline practitioners, to be drawn to grassroots and local "lived experience" evidence. This tacit wisdom, in combination with evidence from academia and clinical evidence accessed through disciplinary or professional networks, offered a knowledge transition opportunity to inform decision making, rather than what can be characterized in the literature as unidirectional knowledge translation. It is often difficult for staff to digest and interpret research as part of their work day because of the volume and density of information that typically counts as evidence. Moreover, there exist challenges to identify and gather indicators as evidence of their work.

LA - SN - 0163-2787 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0163278710393954 ID - ref1 ER -