From randomized trial to community-focused practice.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the use of findings from a randomized trial--a nursing intervention using telephone contacts to reduce the incidence of low-birth-weight and preterm births--in four community settings in North Carolina, to show that implementing research into practice is important. Low-birth-weight and preterm births are the major cause of high infant mortality in the United States. Rates are highest among African-American women. Telephone intervention as a strategy for preventive health care can be cost effective, reduce low-birth-weight and preterm births in African-American women, and provide a means of health consultation for parents of children age five and under.


METHODS
Four community programs are discussed in relation to five phases of implementing and sustaining research in communities: research, transfer, transition, regeneration, and empowerment. Modification from the original research, bonuses, and barriers are described for each program.


METHODS
The randomized trial was conducted from 1990-1995. Randomized trial data and data for subsequent projects were collected from telephone interviews and health care records from 1994-1998. A successful adaptation was made from the original randomized trial to the four programs by (a) educating the staff for each program about the methods and findings in the original research, and (b) working with program staff to make appropriate modifications for each site.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings from a randomized trial can be used in a variety of settings. By working together, researchers and community-health nurses can integrate research findings into community-health nursing practice.
Moore
M L
ML
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1066, USA. mmoore@wfubmc.edu
D044383:Black People; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D015277:Hotlines / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D009657:North Carolina; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000451:nursing* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016730:Program Development / Q000379:methods*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D001741:Black or African American