Background: The process of shared decision making (SDM), a key component of interprofessional (IP) practice, provides an opportunity for the separate and shared knowledge and skills of care providers to synergistically influence the client / patient care provided. The aim of this study was to understand how different professional groups perceive IPSDM, their role as effective participants in the process and how they ensure their voices are heard. Methods: A sequential explanatory mixed methods design was used consisting of a realist review of the literature about IPSDM in intensive care, a survey of the IP team (n=96; RR-81.4%) about collaboration and satisfaction with the decision making process in NICU, semi-structured interviews with a sample of team members (n=22) working in NICU, and observation of team decision making interactions during morning rounds over a two week period. A tertiary care NICU in Canada was the study setting. Findings: The study revealed a number of key findings that are important to our increased understanding of IPSDM. Healthcare professionals’ (HCP) views differ about what constitutes IPSDM. The nature of the decision (triage, chronic condition, values sensitive) is an important influencing factor for IPSDM. Four key roles were identified as essential to the IPSDM process: professional expert, leader, synthesizer and parent. IPSDM involves collaboration, sharing, weighing and building consensus to overcome diversity. HCPs use persuasive knowledge exchange strategies to ensure their voices are heard during IPSDM. Buffering power differentials and increasing agreement about best options lead to well-informed decisions. A model was developed to illustrate the relationships among these concepts. Conclusions: Findings from this study improve understanding of how different members of the team participate in the IPSDM process, and highlight effective strategies to ensure professional voices are heard, understood and considered during deliberations.

Background: The process of shared decision making (SDM), a key component of interprofessional (IP) practice, provides an opportunity for the separate and shared knowledge and skills of care providers to synergistically influence the client / patient care provided. The aim of this study was to understand how different professional groups perceive IPSDM, their role as effective participants in the process and how they ensure their voices are heard. Methods: A sequential explanatory mixed methods design was used consisting of a realist review of the literature about IPSDM in intensive care, a survey of the IP team (n=96; RR-81.4%) about collaboration and satisfaction with the decision making process in NICU, semi-structured interviews with a sample of team members (n=22) working in NICU, and observation of team decision making interactions during morning rounds over a two week period. A tertiary care NICU in Canada was the study setting. Findings: The study revealed a number of key findings that are important to our increased understanding of IPSDM. Healthcare professionals’ (HCP) views differ about what constitutes IPSDM. The nature of the decision (triage, chronic condition, values sensitive) is an important influencing factor for IPSDM. Four key roles were identified as essential to the IPSDM process: professional expert, leader, synthesizer and parent. IPSDM involves collaboration, sharing, weighing and building consensus to overcome diversity. HCPs use persuasive knowledge exchange strategies to ensure their voices are heard during IPSDM. Buffering power differentials and increasing agreement about best options lead to well-informed decisions. A model was developed to illustrate the relationships among these concepts. Conclusions: Findings from this study improve understanding of how different members of the team participate in the IPSDM process, and highlight effective strategies to ensure professional voices are heard, understood and considered during deliberations.

Study Purpose: This research aimed to: (1) understand interactions between researchers and policy-makers in the Canadian tobacco control research community and, (2) explore the relationship between interaction and alignment of research and policy within tobacco control. Methods/Analyses: Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted by phone or in-person with a purposeful sample of Canadian policy-makers at the provincial and federal-levels (n=10) and tobacco control researchers (n=8). A grounded theory methodology was used to guide interview conduct and analyses. Sampling of policy-makers was based on leadership roles for tobacco control in their respective jurisdictions and nominations. Sampling for researchers was based on nominations. Interviews were audio-recorded with permission and transcribed. Transcripts were shared with participants for verification. Results: The tobacco control context in Canada represents a mature field with a historically active policy agenda and an increasingly well-established research community. Through the analysis, nine data-driven categories emerged related to interactions between researchers and research users. The data were further examined to understand possible relationships between interaction and alignment. The nine major categories related to: (1) “two communities”, including the nature of policy and the differential timeframes of research and policy; (2) structures to support interaction, including within or cross-provincial and/or national facilitative mechanisms for interaction between researchers and research users to occur; (3) relationship building between researchers and research users, including the deliberate nature of building and reinforcing relationships over time; (4) interaction in the research process by research users; (5) interaction in the policy process by researchers; (6) independence and credibility of researchers; (7) incentives and barriers to interactions; (8) relevance and timeliness of evidence relative to decision-making needs, and; (9) alignment, including the extent to which research and policy share priorities and objectives. Significance: Results provide insight into the researcher and research user relationships in the Canadian tobacco control community. This study extends existing conceptual work in the area of knowledge exchange particularly from a public health perspective and has implications for other aspects of chronic disease prevention.

Study Purpose: This research aimed to: (1) understand interactions between researchers and policy-makers in the Canadian tobacco control research community and, (2) explore the relationship between interaction and alignment of research and policy within tobacco control. Methods/Analyses: Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted by phone or in-person with a purposeful sample of Canadian policy-makers at the provincial and federal-levels (n=10) and tobacco control researchers (n=8). A grounded theory methodology was used to guide interview conduct and analyses. Sampling of policy-makers was based on leadership roles for tobacco control in their respective jurisdictions and nominations. Sampling for researchers was based on nominations. Interviews were audio-recorded with permission and transcribed. Transcripts were shared with participants for verification. Results: The tobacco control context in Canada represents a mature field with a historically active policy agenda and an increasingly well-established research community. Through the analysis, nine data-driven categories emerged related to interactions between researchers and research users. The data were further examined to understand possible relationships between interaction and alignment. The nine major categories related to: (1) “two communities”, including the nature of policy and the differential timeframes of research and policy; (2) structures to support interaction, including within or cross-provincial and/or national facilitative mechanisms for interaction between researchers and research users to occur; (3) relationship building between researchers and research users, including the deliberate nature of building and reinforcing relationships over time; (4) interaction in the research process by research users; (5) interaction in the policy process by researchers; (6) independence and credibility of researchers; (7) incentives and barriers to interactions; (8) relevance and timeliness of evidence relative to decision-making needs, and; (9) alignment, including the extent to which research and policy share priorities and objectives. Significance: Results provide insight into the researcher and research user relationships in the Canadian tobacco control community. This study extends existing conceptual work in the area of knowledge exchange particularly from a public health perspective and has implications for other aspects of chronic disease prevention.

This thesis examines Knowledge Exchange (KE) seminars and the wider social, political, and economic environment in which they are situated Two-way interactive exchanges between academics and Non-Academic Professionals (NAPs) have been identified as an important factor in explaining why some academic research is used by NAPs, or not (Meagher et al, 2008; Mitton et al, 2007; Lavis et al, 2003; Hanney et al, 2003). Despite this, very little research has examined the social occasions where such exchanges occur. This thesis aims to fill this lacuna by examining the process of knowledge exchange through one specific type of intervention (Walter et al, 2003) – that of KE seminars. KE seminars are a common, almost canonical, strategy for academics wishing to engage with non-academic audiences, yet are relatively unexplored within the KE literature. If ‘sharing research findings with a non-academic audience’ is the sole purpose of KE seminars, then the goal could have been achieved more cheaply through a mail-shot of a briefing paper to a targeted audience (Percy-Smith et al, 2002). By comparison, KE seminars require a considerable investment in resources in terms of time and money. These factors make them theoretically and substantively interesting. This thesis explores the rationale for hosting and attending KE seminars, what benefits participants feel that they gain from attending, and provides insights into how best to facilitate those benefits. Conceptually this thesis draws on Spaapen and van Drooge (2011) & Molas-Gallart and Tang’s (2011) concept of ‘productive interactions.’ The thesis research examines what makes interactions between academics and NAPs ‘productive’ in the context of KE seminars, and the wider social network, economic and political environment in which those interactions emerge and are shaped. This thesis is based on a case study of the ESRC Centre for Population Change (CPC). The empirical evidence comes from 27 semi-structured interviews conducted with CPC academics & administrators (13), and NAPs who attended at least 1 CPC-organised KE seminar (14); and an online questionnaire of 48 CPC staff members (representing 75% of the Centre). The interviews were analysed thematically and the online questionnaire was analysed using Social Network Analysis (SNA). The research design was devised to collect data on the motivations, experiences, and understandings of interactions between academics and NAP within the CPC’s KE seminars. The social network analysis was designed to reveal the CPC’s KE social networks which are pertinent to understanding how the CPC engages with NAPs. This thesis documents ways in which KE seminars are sites of ‘knowledge interaction’ (Davies et al, 2008) where multiple actors from multiple organisations with different knowledges come together to engage in a topic of mutual interest. It finds that KE seminars are worthwhile for participants despite being resource-intensive because they fulfil multiple functions which cannot easily be replicated through non-dialogical and non-corporeal interventions. The academic research being presented on these social occasions is just one source of knowledge among many others (ibid). KE seminars are also opportunities for participants to create new informal contacts and strengthen existing ones. In other words, they help develop informal professional networks which is an important component for successful KE (Olmos-Peñuela, 2014b; Grimshaw et al, 2012; Kramer and Wells, 2005; Greenhalgh et al, 2004; Philip et al, 2003; Molas-Gallart et al, 2000). This thesis makes three original contributions. It shows: how KE seminars fill a number of functions that cannot easily be replicated by indirect forms of nonacademic engagement, which makes the investment of resources for hosting and attending them not only desirable but often necessary; how corporeal co-presence is important for facilitating productive interactions (Goffman, 1966; Urry, 2002; 2003); and the major factors which help facilitate ‘productive interactions’ within KE seminars. It is a contribution to the KE field generally, and will also be helpful to KE practitioners and academics that are tasked with organising and hosting KE seminars.

There is increasing emphasis on the outcomes of research in terms of its impact on wider society. However in the social sciences the ways in which research is taken up and used, discussed, shared and applied in different policy, practice and wider settings is complex. This thesis set out to investigate the ways in which social research was used by various non-academic actors, and to explore what impact it had in order to develop methods for understanding and assessing impact. The research investigated what research impact is, how it occurs, and how it might be assessed. The research was in two phases: firstly, a case study of a research partnership between a research centre and a voluntary organisation; and, secondly, the development and seeking feedback on a framework to assess impact. The care study employed two main approaches: forward-tracking - from research to policy and/or practice - and backward tracking - from policy back to research. Both phases were conducted through a practitioner-research approach, bringing experience of working with the projects involved into the heart of the research model. The study found many ways the research from the partnership had been used in different sectors by different actors. Impacts from the research were harder to identify. In cases where there were clear impacts, the actors involved had adapted research to fit the context for research use in order to create impact. Research users continued to draw on the research for many years after publication, creating further impact as new policy or practice agendas arose. The framework used a 'pathways to impact' model to develop a theory-based approach to assessing impact and to create categories for data collection. The ways in which research might impact on policy and practice are many and cannot be easily predicted. Concepts from complexity theory, particularly a focus on relationships, an understanding of context and the concept of emergence have been useful in framing the picture of impact generated from this research. Any assessment of impact from social research needs to acknowledge that many actors are involved in the process of research being taken up and used, and impact cannot be achieved from the supply side alone. Partnership research, between an academic and voluntary sector organisation, facilitated the use and impact of the research in many ways. The thesis reconceptualises ideas about how research impacts on society, suggesting the concept of 'contribution' is more accurate and useful than attribution. It also adds to the body of empirical work on the processes of impact, and in particular of the role of research partnerships in increasing impact. It suggests that process-based approaches to assessing impact that acknowledge complexity may be fruitful in developing impact assessment methodology.

This research presents the first empirical study of music provision in Scottish prisons and explores the potential benefits of music engagement for prisoners, with a focus on young offenders’ experience. The scope of the study begins with an investigation into music provision in prisons throughout Scotland by means of a small-scale survey. This survey showed that despite a lack of documentation, music is currently present in Scottish prisons and has been previously, albeit intermittently. Music provision included a range of activity: learning how to play musical instruments, singing, music theory, song-writing and composition. Subsequently, two music intervention studies were conducted with young offenders at HM Young Offenders Institution Polmont. The first study was a ten-week project with three participant groups: a music group, an art group and a control group. Pre- and post-interviews and measures were used to assess participants’ self-esteem, self-control, behaviour, literacy skills and engagement with education. Numerous difficulties were identified with conducting such research in a prison environment, including the recruitment process and using standard assessment measures. However, results from the small number of men involved showed!an increase in engagement with education for all three groups during the project and a steady continued increase in education engagement for the music group after the project ended. Additionally, the music and art groups showed a small increase in mean scores for self-esteem, positive emotions reported and self-control. The second study examined two music interventions with young offenders as part of the year-long Inspiring Change pilot project. This study used interviews and session review forms with education staff and arts practitioners to document the process of the organisations involved in the planning and implementation of the projects. Focus groups with young offenders were carried out to gather their opinions of the programmes. Participants expressed that they especially appreciated the high level of professionalism of the arts practitioners, working as a group, and being recognised as making an individual contribution towards a final project. In addition to the survey and intervention studies, a Knowledge Exchange workshop was designed for music tutors in Scottish prisons to meet, learn about research on music in prisons, and exchange ideas for best practice. A workbook and afternoon workshop format was investigated in terms of its effectiveness and was found to be beneficial for music tutors in learning more about the research and practice of teaching music in prisons. This thesis contributes to the developing research on the benefits of music provision for prisoners and provides a baseline of music provision in Scottish prisons for further study.

Taking the case study of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show, the largest event of its kind in Europe, this thesis examines the role that agricultural shows have in the modern-day countryside. Agricultural shows are a key fixture in the rural calendar. In recent years these events have changed from being a social and competition space, purely aimed at rural residents, to today displaying the finest livestock, mechanical, technological, and skills innovations serving a wide number of economic, social, cultural and environmental features targeted at the wider population. Despite their significance to rural society, agricultural shows remain largely unexplored in geography. Taking a mixed methods approach, and by undertaking an in-depth study of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show, this thesis investigates the role that agricultural shows have in (re)imagining and (re)presenting their host communities. The thesis continues by examining the manner in which large-scale rural events can be seen as a nexus for knowledge exchange and innovation, before considering how large scale rural events influence the politics and governance of rural areas. This thesis suggests that agricultural shows are an important means of collective identity for rural people, and that these events reimagine their host communities. It also finds that agricultural shows are vital sites for the development of social capital in rural areas, have significant roles in knowledge exchange, and the development of rural buzz. Finally, it is concluded that agricultural shows inhabit a powerful, but extraordinary location within the political landscape of their host communities, having an influence on their politics and governance.

The central themes of this thesis are professional learning and knowledge transfer. These themes have been critically examined in the context of how social work child protection professionals learn. Traditional ways of knowing and learning are no longer adequate. Professionals are facing increasingly complex practice issues that take place within an ever-changing social and political landscape. The role of the professional social worker is under constant scrutiny, nowhere more so than in the field of child protection, where the media plays a pivotal role in setting the political agenda (McCulloch and Kelly, 2007). The nature of professional learning and in particular, child protection social work learning, has been captured at various junctures in this thesis as it grapples with the key tensions, debates and conflicts. The thesis has positioned these challenges within the context of the literature and provides an alternative theoretical lens from which to consider alternative approaches. The future of child protection social work and the protection of vulnerable children and families rely on the skills, experience and knowledge of those charged with working with them. In this thesis I posit that current methods of education and continuing professional development are failing. New methods and models of sharing knowledge between all who have a stake in child protection, need to be reconsidered. For this to occur, we need to reconceptualise the theory that underpins our current approach and recognise the barriers that prevent the effective transfer of knowledge across the domains of research, practice and service user knowledge and experience. This thesis concludes that this can only be achieved through the active and informed participation of all stakeholders.

<p>This case study has been conducted within the Swedish fitness chain World Class to explore the opportunities for knowledge development and transfers within franchise networks. We have interviewed the product manager at the World Class headquarter, the owner of a franchise club and a local product manager from the same facility. Our finding indicates that various forms of knowledge transfer occur within the World Class network, particularly in product development and sales. The transfer occurs within the framework set by World Class with regularly scheduled meetings. In addition informal networks provide other means of knowledge exchange between some units. For the owner we found a lesser degree of knowledge exchange despite that they share the same kind of formal framework.</p><p>Our results points towards problems like the “not invented here”-syndrome, urge for independence and pride among the club owners. Besides that we found no resistance to share information from one unit to another. We found a lack of motivation for knowledge exchange, the benefits of knowledge transfer seemed unclear to the interviewed owner. Nevertheless, we found reasons to believe that entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity, the heterogeneity and the variety of market conditions within the franchise network gives high potential for knowledge exchange that may be unexploited.</p>