title: Translating research for health policy: researchers' perceptions and use of social media.
abstract: As the United States moves forward with health reform, the communication gap between researchers and policy makers will need to be narrowed to promote policies informed by evidence. Social media represent an expanding channel for communication. Academic journals, public health agencies, and health care organizations are increasingly using social media to communicate health information. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now regularly tweets to 290,000 followers. We conducted a survey of health policy researchers about using social media and two traditional channels (traditional media and direct outreach) to disseminate research findings to policy makers. Researchers rated the efficacy of the three dissemination methods similarly but rated social media lower than the other two in three domains: researchers' confidence in their ability to use the method, peers' respect for its use, and how it is perceived in academic promotion. Just 14 percent of our participants reported tweeting, and 21 percent reported blogging about their research or related health policy in the past year. Researchers described social media as being incompatible with research, of high risk professionally, of uncertain efficacy, and an unfamiliar technology that they did not know how to use. Researchers will need evidence-based strategies, training, and institutional resources to use social media to communicate evidence.
authors.affiliation: David Grande (dgrande@wharton.upenn.edu) is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grande
authors.affiliation: Sarah E. Gollust is an assistant professor in the Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Gollust
authors.affiliation: Maximilian Pany is an undergraduate student at Swarthmore College, in Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Maximilian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pany
authors.affiliation: Jane Seymour is a graduate student in public health at the University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seymour
authors.affiliation: Adeline Goss is a student at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Adeline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goss
authors.affiliation: Austin Kilaru is a student at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Austin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kilaru
authors.affiliation: Zachary Meisel is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Meisel
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods; D012108:Research Personnel; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical; D014481:United States
keywords: Research; Social Media