title: Harnessing complexity: taking advantage of context and relationships in dissemination of school-based interventions.
abstract: Schools and school systems are increasingly asked to use evidence-based strategies to promote the health and well-being of students. The dissemination of school-based health promotion research, however, offers particular challenges to conventional approaches to dissemination. Schools and education systems are multifaceted organizations that sit within constantly shifting broader contexts. This article argues that health promotion dissemination needs to be rethought for school communities as complex systems and that this requires understanding and harnessing the dynamic ecology of the sociopolitical context. In developing this argument, the authors draw on their experience of the dissemination process of a multilevel school-based intervention in a complex educational context. Building on this experience, they argue for the need to move beyond conventional dissemination strategies to a focus on active partnerships between developers and users of school-based intervention research and offer a conceptual tool for planning dissemination.
authors: Adolescent Health & Social Environments Program at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children's Hospital and Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.
authors: Helen
authors: H
authors: Butler
authors: Glenn
authors: G
authors: Bowes
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Drew
authors: Sara
authors: S
authors: Glover
authors: Celia
authors: C
authors: Godfrey
authors: George
authors: G
authors: Patton
authors: Lea
authors: L
authors: Trafford
authors: Lyndal
authors: L
authors: Bond
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014739:Victoria