Closing the gap and widening the scope. New directions for research capacity building in primary health care

BACKGROUND: Research capacity building initiatives abound within primary health care to increase the research base of the many component health professionals and organisations. Most initiatives aim to close the gaps between research, policy and practice. Many of these approaches have been unable to build the necessary skills among primary health care researchers to fully integrate research evidence into clinical practice, and ultimately to inform policy in this complex arena. OBJECTIVE: To propose a paradigm shift in the content of capacity building as a step toward closing the gaps between research, policy and practice. DISCUSSION: The complexity of the primary health care environment and the concept of development as a means to understanding and operating within primary health care research, policy and practice environments is discussed. A small pilot study was used to identify the underlying skills required in research, evaluation and development. In order to facilitate the paradigm shift an organisational development model was utilised that demonstrated congruency with this skill set. Further research is required to validate and apply this model in a primary health care research capacity building context.