Public Health Research Implementation and Translation

Abstract

BACKGROUND Research on how best to deliver efficacious public health strategies in heterogeneous community and organizational contexts remains limited. Such studies require the active engagement of public health practice settings in the design, implementation and translation of research. Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) provide mechanisms for research engagement, but until now they have not been tested in public health settings. PURPOSE This study uses data from participants in 14 public health PBRNs and a national comparison group of public health agencies to study processes influencing the engagement of public health settings in research implementation and translation activities. METHODS A cross-sectional network analysis survey was fielded with participants in public health PBRNs approximately one year after network formation (n=357) and with a nationally representative comparison group of U.S. local health departments not participating in PBRNs (n=625). Hierarchical regression models were used to estimate how organizational attributes and PBRN network structures influence engagement in research implementation and translation activities. RESULTS Among PBRN participants, both researchers and practice agencies reported high levels of engagement in research activities. Local public health agencies participating in PBRNs were two to three times more likely than non-participating agencies to engage in research implementation and translation activities (p<0.05). Participants in less-densely connected PBRN networks and in more peripheral locations within these networks reported higher levels of research engagement, greater perceived benefits from engagement, and greater likelihood of continued participation. CONCLUSIONS PBRN networks can serve as effective mechanisms for facilitating research implementation and translation among public health practice settings.

Designing for Dissemination: Lessons in Message Design From “1-2-3 Pap”

“…These public health PBRNs provide a promising avenue for translational collaborations (Mays, Hogg, Castellanos-Cruz, Hoover, & Fowler, 2013; Vanderpool, Brownson, Mays, Crosby, & Wyatt, 2013). In existence since 2008, the public health PBRN program brings practitioners from state and local health departments together with academic researchers to identify, study, and solve research problems that have real-world relevance (Mays, 2011).…”

Reducing Cervical Cancer Incidence Using Evidence-Based Programs in Community Settings

“…For example, adoption of EPBs by public health system partners may be supported through expanded recognition of successful research endeavors via publications in outlets popular with practitioners, professional meetings, awards, and accreditation and credentialing programs. 13 However, without a commitment to understanding the resource constraints on public health system partners' ability to implement new and existing EBPs, academic researchers cannot hope to bridge the gap between their efficacy studies and public health practice. The conclusions of the articles in this theme issue also reinforce calls to offer compelling incentives that encourage both researchers and practitioners to participate in collaborative research design and implementation projects, particularly during this time of increasing pressure not only on public health system budgets but also scientific funding, to demonstrate the tangible return on investment offered by public health research and practice.…”

“…15,16 Considering these resource constraints and the heterogeneous nature of the U.S. public health system, 17 there is a continued need for practice-based research to determine which strategies for implementing EBPs are most effective across multiple settings and populations. 13 This theme issue includes practice-based research conducted with local health department, public school system, and state health department partners who served as coresearchers with academic investigators in designing and implementing these projects. Because practicebased research inherently involves academic-community partnerships, much of this theme issue will focus on how such partnerships can be developed and used to firmly establish EBP in the regular practice of diverse public health system partners.…”

“…Although Domain 10 of the Public Health Accreditation Board's standards includes the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) when implementing new or revised programs 12 and the public health practice-based research network program provides new opportunities for practitioners to partner with researchers engaged in public health services and systems research, 13 only 26% of the 463 agencies that responded to the 2013 National Association of County and City Health Officials Profiles Study indicated that they had applied research findings to practices within their own organizations during the past 2 years. 14 The divide between available EBPs and their application to a practice context may be attributable in part to what Brownson 11 has called a "tale of two worlds," specifically, of the academic research environments in which EBPs are developed and tested and the public health system settings in which these EBPs are to be ultimately implemented.…”

Adoption of Evidence-Based Interventions in Local Health Departments

“…17 Additionally, LHDs are embedded in the total public health system and are responsive to, and influenced by, multiple, diverse community partners, each with their own agenda. 18 Public health practice-based research networks (PHPBRNs) partner public health practice agencies, particularly LHDs, with academic researchers to address questions of practical relevance 19 and are considered critical new "links in the chain of research translation" that can improve public health practice by expediting the translation of EBIs into practice. 20 This article is a case study of the practice-based research of the North Carolina PH-PBRN established in 2008 with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.…”