Experiences of occupational and physical therapists in Germany as recipients of knowledge transfer: A qualitative telephone interview study

Healthcare professionals have a responsibility to base their decisions on a combination of clinical experience, evidence-based research, and the inclusion of patient values and preferences to improve their clients' quality of care. However, the implementation of research findings into clinical practice is often delayed by up to 15 years. Therefore, this study explores experiences of occupational and physical therapists in Germany as recipients of knowledge transfer in order to identify influencing factors and possible ways to enhance knowledge transfer and to address the knowledge-to-practice gap. We conducted 16 semi-structured, guided individual telephone interviews with occupational and physical therapists and employed thematic qualitative content analysis. The results show a variety of strategies to access knowledge (e.g., teaching materials, educational programmes, peer exchange), which are applied with various frequency: conferences are rarely attended, while search engines are used more regularly. However, accessing knowledge usually takes place outside working hours and is rated differently in terms of effectiveness/efficiency and quality of content: despite potential inadequacies of some strategies to access knowledge (e.g., due to a disputable level of evidence), others (e.g., peer exchange) are considered useful because of their simplicity and efficiency. The access to knowledge is influenced by a number of facilitating and hindering factors related to resources, communication, and organisational and individual aspects. Thus, potential for optimisation has been identified in terms of access, supply, and content of knowledge. These research findings facilitate an enhanced understanding of knowledge transfer received by therapists. This is needed to establish targeted strategies to access, integrate, and evaluate knowledge, and it may lead to an improvement in professional development and patient outcome.