Changing the behavior of healthcare professionals: the use of theory in promoting the uptake of research findings.
OBJECTIVE
The uptake of research findings into routine health care is a haphazard and unpredictable process. The usefulness of the results of implementation studies is limited, due in part to the lack of an underlying framework of the important dimensions of research studies in this area and the healthcare settings within which they are conducted and may subsequently be used.


METHODS
We explore the role for a theory-based framework and suggest some of the methods that would be needed to operationalize the framework in the context of designing and conducting interventions aimed at improving the use of research findings by individual healthcare professionals or teams.


CONCLUSIONS
This research offers a framework for those who would seek to use the results of such studies in routine healthcare settings.
Eccles
Martin
M
Centre for Health Services Research, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 21 Claremont Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4AA, UK. martin.eccles@ncl.ac.uk
Grimshaw
Jeremy
J
Walker
Anne
A
Johnston
Marie
M
Pitts
Nigel
N
D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'