Deliberations on the dissemination of PORT products: translating research findings into improved patient outcomes.

View Abstract

This report outlines the activities undertaken by the Inter-PORT Dissemination work group during its first 2 years of operation. The work group's initial purpose was to assist the individual PORTs in developing their plans for both disseminating research findings and evaluating the effectiveness of these strategies. However, it became quickly apparent that in a discipline little more than a decade old, a commonly understood vocabulary had yet to be adopted. Even the term "dissemination" held different meaning for different constituencies. Consequently, the work group has tried to encourage the development of both a definitional framework and a set of common data elements of importance to all dissemination programs. The work group has analogously attempted to agree on minimum standards of methodologic rigor as a starting point for coordination of evaluations across PORTs. To help determine the potential for further coordination, a matrix of each individual PORT's target audiences, intervention strategies, and evaluation designs has been constructed. Much remains to be learned before we can know with any certainty how best to translate research findings into useful behavior change and improved patient outcomes. Our goal is that the efforts of the work group will serve to catalyze this process.

Investigators
Abbreviation
Med Care
Publication Date
199-07-01
Volume
32
Issue
7 Suppl
Page Numbers
JS90-110
Pubmed ID
8028416
Medium
Print
Full Title
Deliberations on the dissemination of PORT products: translating research findings into improved patient outcomes.
Authors
Goldberg HI, Cummings MA, Steinberg EP, Ricci EM, Shannon T, Soumerai SB, Mittman BS, Eisenberg J, Heck DA, Kaplan S