Inspiring Knowledge Mobilization Through a Communications Policy: The Case of a Community University Research Alliance

Taking Culture Seriously in Community Mental Health is a community-based participatory action research project in Ontario devoted to developing, pilot testing, and evaluating mental health service models grounded in the concept of "cultural empowerment." To ensure that the knowledge generated in the project is shared and used, the research collaborative places a heavy emphasis on communicating with stakeholder groups. This paper provides an overview of a communications policy designed to facilitate such sharing and use. It describes the development and key features of the policy, focusing on the broad issues of principles, authorship and acknowledgment, and planning and procedures.