Getting People to Want Sliced Bread— An Update on Dissemination of the Guide to Community Preventive Services

Abstract

This article provides an overview and update on dissemination strategies regarding the Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide), a federally sponsored and independently led initiative to develop evidence-based findings on the effectiveness of selected population-based interventions. Despite the innovative nature, barriers to dissemination and utilization of Community Guide findings exist. Terms and concepts used to guide dissemination efforts designed to address these barriers are identified and discussed.

Physical Activity Interventions in Latin America

“…Similar to the original systematic review, 4 this review was limited to Brazilian theses that were readily available using databases on the Internet or through professional contacts. Second, similar to the U.S. Community Guide , the current review provides information on “what to do” but limited guidance on “how to” do it 71 . Studies were classified into intervention categories defined by the U.S. Community Guide with only slight modifications.…”

Tracing the Flow of Knowledge

“…While dissemination is an active effort to foster change in the behavior of a practitioner community, diffusion is a process of passive information flow through existing social networks to natural target audiences. 3 The temporal rate and geographic reach of the adoption of new treatments are thought to be influenced by many factors, including the novelty and effectiveness of the innovation, the beliefs and inquisitiveness of adopters, the health system or practice setting in which they work, the motivations and capacities of suppliers (eg, pharmaceutical companies or academic researchers), and the methods of communication (eg, active detailing and advertising, publication in professional journals, or informal professional exchanges). 4 Geographic surveillance can be a useful tool for tracking the diffusion of physician prescribing behaviors, 5 especially when a treatment is developed at one location and diffuses naturally from that location to others without a formal dissemination effort.…”

Moving Research into Practice: Can We Make Dissemination Stick?

“…In 1601, James Lancaster conducted an experiment showing that lemon juice prevented scurvy, a disease that caused more deaths among sailors than accidents or warfare at the time. However, even though James Lind replicated the study in 1753, scurvy continued to be the scourge of the seas until 1795 when the British Navy started using citrus juice regularly (Meyers, 2003;Mosteller, 1981). Roddis (1941) estimated that "5000 lives a year were needlessly lost from scurvy" in the interim between scientific discovery and practical application of this treatment, a total of nearly 800,000 lives (as cited in Anderson, 2000).…”