title: Expanding delivery system research in public health settings:  lessons from practice-based research networks.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Delivery system research to identify how best to organize, finance, and implement health improvement strategies has focused heavily on clinical practice settings, with relatively little attention paid to public health settings-where research is made more difficult by wide heterogeneity in settings and limited sources of existing data and measures. This study examines the approaches used by public health practice-based research networks (PBRNs) to expand delivery system research and evidence-based practice in public health settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Practice-based research networks employ quasi-experimental research designs, natural experiments, and mixed-method analytic techniques to evaluate how community partnerships, economic shocks, and policy changes impact delivery processes in public health settings. In addition, network analysis methods are used to assess patterns of interaction between practitioners and researchers within PBRNs to produce and apply research findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings from individual PBRN studies elucidate the roles of information exchange, community resources, and leadership and decision-making structures in shaping implementation outcomes in public health delivery. Network analysis of PBRNs reveals broad engagement of both practitioners and researchers in scientific inquiry, with practitioners in the periphery of these networks reporting particularly large benefits from research participation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Public health PBRNs provide effective mechanisms for implementing delivery system research and engaging practitioners in the process. These networks also hold promise for accelerating the translation and application of research findings into public health settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Management, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA. glen.mays@uky.edu
authors.forename: Glen P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Mays
authors.forename: Rachel A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hogg
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical