Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) Science bridges the research-to-practice gap by engaging community and clinical partners to incorporate a focus on how evidence-based information, programs, and policies (collectively referred to as “interventions”) get integrated into routine public health and healthcare services and shared broadly to achieve health impact (NIH-PAR 22-105). This science can advance health equity through an emphasis on multilevel approaches and intersectoral collaborations to promote the uptake and sustainability of interventions within resource-limited settings and for medically underserved populations.
Also referred to as Dissemination and Implementation Science, studies in this field typically involve both interdisciplinary cooperation and transdisciplinary collaboration, using theories, empirical findings, and methods from a variety of scientific disciplines, including information science, organizational and management theory, health economics, behavioral science, public health, business and public administration, statistics, anthropology, epidemiology, decision science, engagement science, systems science, health equity research, engineering, and marketing. D&I research will often include significant and ongoing collaboration with partners from multiple public health and clinical practice settings as well as end-users of services and their families and social networks. (PAR 22-105)
Dissemination research is defined as the scientific study of the targeted distribution of information and intervention materials to a specific public health, clinical practice, or policy audience. The intent is to understand how best to communicate and integrate knowledge and the associated evidence-based interventions. (PAR 22-105)
Implementation research is defined as the scientific study of the use of strategies to adopt and integrate evidence-based health interventions into clinical and community settings to improve individual outcomes and benefit population health. (PAR 22-105)
Interventions (could be programs, practices, principles, procedures, products, pills and policies [Brown et al, 2017]) that have shown effectiveness in achieving positive health outcomes (Brownson, 2022)
A set of circumstances or unique factors related to the setting or community that surrounds a particular implementation effort (Brownson, 2022; Nilsen & Bernhardsson, 2019; Koczwara et al, 2016)
Methods or techniques used to enhance the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of an intervention (Proctor, et al., 2013; Powell, et al., 2015; Waltz, et al.,2015)
Distinct from service and clinical outcomes, implementation outcomes are the effects of deliberate and purposive actions to implement interventions. They serve as indicators of implementation success, proximal indicators of implementation processes, and intermediate outcomes to service and clinical outcomes. Key outcomes include: Acceptability, Adoption, Appropriateness, Costs, Feasibility, Fidelity, Uptake, and Sustainability (Proctor, et al., 2011)
Thoughtful or deliberate modifications made to the interventions or implementation strategies, with the goal of improving their fit with a given context (Stirman, et al., 2019; Baumann, et al., 2023)
Studies that include questions about the effectiveness of an intervention and its implementation within the same study (Curran et al., 2012; Curran et al, 2023)
https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/is/training-education/training-in-cancer/TIDIRC-open-access
This site is hosted by the Implementation Science Team at the National Cancer Institute and include the Open Access course for the Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer (TIDIRC)
This site from the University of Washington in Seattle is an Implementation Science Resource Hub that provides an orientation to the field and resources for conducting research.
https://dissemination-implementation.org/
This webpage is an interactive, online resource designed to help researchers and practitioners navigate D&I theories, models, and frameworks (TMFs) through planning, selecting, combining, adapting, using, and linking to measures.
This site at the University of North Carolina is a one-stop shop for implementation science researchers. The site includes tutorials, grant-writing resources, an interactive tool for selecting an implementation science theory or framework to fit a proposal, and other information.
Implementation Science: Implementation Science publishes research relevant to the scientific study of methods to promote the uptake of research findings into routine healthcare in clinical, organizational, or policy contexts.
Implementation Science communications: Implementation Science Communications, an official companion journal to Implementation Science, is a forum to publish research to foster the uptake of evidence-based practices and policies that affect health care delivery and health outcomes in clinical, organizational, or policy context.
Global Implementation Research and Applications: As the official journal of the Global Implementation Society, Global Implementation Research and Applications (GIRA) seeks rigorous studies, perspectives and experiences, commentaries and other types of submissions from researchers, policy maker, and stakeholders that may focus upon, but are not limited to: Context analysis, readiness, and capacity development; Development, application, and testing of implementation tools and measures; Implementation theory, frameworks and models; Implementation-focused planning, design, and evaluation; Implementation policies, strategies, and processes; Innovation fidelity, adaptation, feasibility, replication, sustainability, and de-implementation; Policy implementation, systems intervention, scale up, and sustainment
Implementation Research and Practice: Implementation Research and Practice is an international, peer-reviewed, open access, online-only journal providing rapid publication of interdisciplinary research that advances the implementation in diverse contexts of effective approaches to assess, prevent, and treat mental health, substance use, or other addictive behaviors, in the general population or among those at-risk or suffering from these disorders.
When defining implementation science, some very non-scientific language can be helpful...
From: Curran, G.M. Implementation science made too simple: a teaching tool. Implement Sci Commun 1, 27 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-020-00001-z
Prajakta Adsul, MBBS, MPH, PhD
CADIS Director
Email: padsul@salud.unm.edu
CADIS Administration
Email: CADIS@salud.unm.edu
Subscribe to our listserv