Christine E. Cassidy
1* 
, Sarah Bowen
2 , Guillaume Fontaine
3,4 , Élizabeth Côté-Boileau
5,6 , Ingrid Botting
7 1 School of Nursing, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
2 Applied Research and Evaluation Consultant, Halifax, NS, Canada.
3 Faculty of Nursing, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
4 Montreal Heart Institute Research Center, Montreal, QC, Canada.
5 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Research, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada.
6 Charles-Le Moyne – Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Research Center on Health Innovations, Longueuil, QC, Canada.
7 Health Services Integration, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Abstract
Effectiveness in health services research requires development of specific knowledge and skills for working in partnership with health system decision-makers. In an initial effort to frame capacity-building activities for researchers, we designed a workshop on working collaboratively within the health system. The workshop, based on recent research exploring health system experience and perspectives on research collaborations, was trialed at the annual Canadian Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR) conference in May 2019. Participants reported positive evaluations of the workshop. However, further efforts should target health services researchers that may not be as motivated to develop skills in collaborative research. Additional attention to equipping researchers with the skills needed to work in partnerships is recommended, including approaches and materials that avoid oversimplification of complex challenges.