The use of tacit and explicit knowledge in public health: a qualitative study

Through use of one-on-one interviews and focus groups, we aimed to gain a better understanding of how tacit knowledge is used to inform program initiatives in public health. This study was designed as a narrative inquiry, which is based on the assumption that we make sense of the world by telling stories. Four public health units were purposively selected for maximum variation, based on geography and academic affiliation.Analysis revealed different ways in which tacit knowledge was used to plan the public health program or initiative, including discovering the opportunity, bringing a team together, and working out program details (such as partnering, funding).The findings of this study demonstrate that tacit knowledge is drawn upon, and embedded within, various stages of the process of program planning in public health. The results will be useful in guiding the development of future knowledge translation strategies for public health organizations and decision makers.The front-line public health system is vital for supporting disease prevention, health promotion, and healthy public policy initiatives. Over the past decade, a number of new and persistent health risks, such as resurgent infectious diseases (e.g., H1N1 influenza), threats of bioterrorism (e.g., anthrax), large-scale natural disasters (e.g., New Orleans, Haiti), and the advance of chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes, heart disease) have threatened the general population. One response has been a strengthened commitment to develop the science in public health knowledge exchange and uptake [1], also known as knowledge translation (KT). We take the position that KT is an interactive process of knowledge exchange between health researchers and health practitioners [2], or communities of practitioners [3]. In this paper, we focus on the tacit knowledge that is exchanged in a public health team.Public health represents a unique setting deserving special attention with respect to KT. Public health practitioners mus