Evidence-informed decision making is foundational to public health nursing practice. However, finding time to locate, access, and review high quality evidence can be a challenge in a busy day filled with home visits, case coordination, supervision, and meetings. Over the last few decades, researchers have recognized that to transfer research evidence to practice, that innovative and accessible knowledge mobilization strategies must be used – including providing succinct research briefs that synthesize the evidence or highlighting key findings and recommendations for practice in short, engaging videos. One researcher who is skilled in using a range of communication tools to share research evidence with health care professionals is Dr. Christine Wekerle (Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University), who leads a research team funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) that considers child sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation and adolescent sexual dating violence in the context of sex differences and gender (see #CIHRTeamSV ResearchGate Project).
She has shared that for nurses looking to find succinct evidence-based synopses of key health issues impacting the families they serve, including child sexual abuse, the Encyclopedia on Early Child Development is an excellent resource.
On this same topic, she has also shared brief research-to-practice and policy videos which are Canadian, open access and based on up-to-date empirical work.
- Child Sexual Abuse: Focuses on key issues and relations to adolescent functioning, such as involvement in dating violence.
- Child Sexual Exploitation: Focuses on a rapid growing crime and highlights a recent systematic review collaboration with ECPAT International on anti-trafficking of boys.
- In this same series, public health nurses might also be interested in watching Michael Ungar’s video “How can children and youth develop resilience during a pandemic?”