The role of researchers in disseminating evidence to public health practice settings: a cross-sectional study.
BACKGROUND
Evidence-based public health interventions, which research has demonstrated offer the most promise for improving the population's health, are not always utilized in practice settings. The extent to which dissemination from researchers to public health practice settings occurs is not widely understood. This study examines the extent to which public health researchers in the United States are disseminating their research findings to local and state public health departments.


METHODS
In a 2012, nationwide study, an online questionnaire was administered to 266 researchers from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and universities to determine dissemination practices. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between dissemination to state and/or local health departments and respondent characteristics, facilitators, and barriers to dissemination.


RESULTS
Slightly over half of the respondents (58%) disseminated their findings to local and/or state health departments. After adjusting for other respondent characteristics, respondents were more likely to disseminate their findings to health departments if they worked for a university Prevention Research Center or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or received their degree more than 20 years ago. Those who had ever worked in a practice or policy setting, those who thought dissemination was important to their own research and/or to the work of their unit/department, and those who had expectations set by their employers and/or funding agencies were more likely to disseminate after adjusting for work place, graduate degree and/or fellowship in public health, and the year the highest academic degree was received.


CONCLUSIONS
There is still room for improvement in strengthening dissemination ties between researchers and public health practice settings, and decreasing the barriers researchers face during the dissemination process. Researchers could better utilize national programs or workshops, knowledge brokers, or opportunities provided through academic institutions to become more proficient in dissemination practices.
College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, MO, United States of America. amayer18@slu.edu.
Allese B
AB
McVay
College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, MO, United States of America.
Katherine A
KA
Stamatakis
College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States of America.
Julie A
JA
Jacobs
Prevention Research Center in St. Louis, Brown School, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States of America.
Rachel G
RG
Tabak
Prevention Research Center in St. Louis, Brown School, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States of America.|Division of Public Health Sciences and Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States of America.
Ross C
RC
Brownson
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D024382:Professional Role; D011634:Public Health; D015980:Public Health Practice; D012108:Research Personnel; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States
Barriers; Dissemination; Practice settings; Public health; Researchers