An Evaluation Approach for Measuring the Impact of Knowledge Mobilization Activities Within NHS Knowledge and Library Services

NHS knowledge and library services are critical to evidence-based decision making in the NHS, including mobilizing soft intelligence and knowledge. Services need to assess how their knowledge mobilization activities are impacting on strategic and operational decision-making. Knowledge mobilization is still in its relative infancy, with limited evaluation linked to a lack of resources and the complexities of evaluating these interventions. This project therefore aimed to develop an evaluation approach to measure the impact of activities supporting person-to-person tacit knowledge exchange and organizational knowledge mobilization capacity-building. A literature search and interviews with NHS Knowledge and Library Services staff informed a series of online workshops to co-produce an evaluation framework. Outcomes frameworks were considered to be a practical and robust approach and a theory of change and set of nested outcomes chains were created. The use of outcomes frameworks supporting systematic data collection enables claims to be made about the contribution of knowledge mobilization interventions to NHS objectives, and can contribute to the wider evidence base for health libraries impact and knowledge mobilization evaluation. An evaluation approach and resources for assessing the impact of NHS knowledge and library services’ knowledge mobilization activities has been devised for further testing and refinement in practice to select relevant measures and data sources.