A New Framework and Practice Center for Adapting, Translating, and Scaling Evidence-Based Health/Wellness Programs for People With Disabilities

Supporting the transition of people with newly acquired and existing disability from rehabilitation into community-based health/wellness programs, services, and venues requires rehabilitation professionals to build evidence by capturing successful strategies at the local level, finding innovative ways to translate successful practices to other communities, and ultimately to upgrade and maintain their applicability and currency for future scale-up. This article describes a knowledge-to-practice framework housed in a national resource and practice center that will support therapists and other rehabilitation professionals in building and maintaining a database of successful health/wellness guidelines, recommendations, and adaptations to promote community health inclusion for people with disabilities. A framework was developed in the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD) to systematically build and advance the evidence base of health/wellness programs, practices, and services applicable to people with disabilities. N-KATS (NCHPAD Knowledge Adaptation, Translation, and Scale-up) has 4 sequencing strategies: strategy 1new evidence- and practice-based knowledge is collected and adapted for the local context (ie, community); strategy 2customized resources are effectively disseminated to key stakeholders including rehabilitation professionals with appropriate training tools; strategy 3NCHPAD staff serve as facilitators assisting key stakeholders in implementing recommendations; strategy 4successful elements of practice (eg, guideline, recommendation, adaptation) are archived and scaled to other rehabilitation providers. The N-KATS framework supports the role of rehabilitation professionals as knowledge brokers, facilitators, and users in a collaborative, dynamic structure that will grow and be sustained over time through the NCHPAD. Video abstract available for additional insights from the authors (see Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/JNPT/A130).