Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health: Translating Science to Practice (2nd edition), by Ross C. Brownson, Graham A. Colditz, and Enola K. Proctor, editors. Washington University in St Louis. 2017, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health: Translating Science to Practice (2nd edition) continues to serve as the seminal textbook for dissemination and implementation (DI) science. This second edition provides an update on the rapid evolution and expansion of the field since the publication of the first edition in 2012. Throughout this text, the editors, Ross Brownson, PhD, Graham Colditz, DrPH, MD, MPH, and Enola Proctor, PhD, MSW (Washington University in St Louis), along with a multidisciplinary team of contributors, clearly argue that there is a need to broaden the use of evidence-based services and interventions across diverse contexts. As articulated by David Chambers in the Foreword, "We hypothesize that practicing high-value health care through provision of underutilized evidence-based practices may outstrip the benefit of discovering a new practice in an established area"(p. XI). With the growing interest in DI by researchers and practitioners alike, this text will continue to serve an important contribution.
Divided into 4 main sections, the first quarter of the text describes foundational terminology and concepts of DI; the second provides an overview of the historical development of DI and describes broad methodological approaches; the third focuses on strategies for designing, analyzing, and measuring DI research; and the fourth describes the various settings, populations, and broader context (political, sociohistorical, and cultural) in which DI research occurs. This book, while expansive in scope, provides a conceptual guide for researchers and policy makers who work at the intersection of evidence-based practice and health promotion along with pragmatic tools and resources to support execution of work in this area. While the first half of this text is best suited for those seeking an introduction to the field, the latter half can serve as a useful guide for a broader group of readers, offering annotated references and links to resources for those interested in learning how to apply these techniques in their practice.
Two chapters are noteworthy for the insights they provide toward addressing challenges within DI research, namely, the importance of community-partnered research, and the value of mixed-methods designs. Chapter 11 provides an overview of community-based participatory research and the importance of involving community partners at various stages of the research process. This approach to research emphasizes genuine collaboration with community members to improve the relevance, efficacy, and sustainability of interventions. It accomplishes this objective by establishing community buy-in and trust, tailoring research instruments and interventions to community needs, and incorporating community partners in the interpretation of findings. Minkler, Salvatore, and Chang provide a detailed account of a highly successful community-based project that sought to improve the health and working conditions of restaurant workers in San Francisco's Chinatown District to illustrate how community members can be systematically integrated in the research process and dissemination of the findings. Participatory research is an important tool for DI researchers, and this chapter is an excellent resource for those interested in learning about the principles and measurement tools, as well as the ethical and logistical challenges of this approach. This emphasis on community-partnered work is also reflected in the multiple case examples presented in the last part of the text.
Chapter 20 offers a compelling overview of the strengths of mixed-methods designs to evaluate outcomes in DI science. Palinkas and Cooper emphasize that in a mixed-methods design, both quantitative and qualitative methods play an integral role in the overall research evaluation. In particular, strengths of this chapter include the emphasis on synthesizing the findings of each approach, discussion of how researchers and policy makers can thoughtfully integrate the two together to meet their design needs, as well as the ample offering of resources for researchers and policy makers interested in mixed methods. In addition to grounding their descriptions with a compelling case study, we believe Table 20.1, in which they outline the various types of integrated designs, will be a useful resource for implementation researchers interested in incorporating mixed-methods designs into their work.
In addition to highlighting advances in the now standard methodologies and practices of DI research that were described in the first edition of the textbook, the second edition also extends this work to incorporate novel approaches that will likely be of interest to researchers and policy makers. Chapters 9 and 10 function as a unit, summarizing key concepts of systems thinking and its novel analytical tools. Systems thinking, broadly defined, is a way of accounting for the complexity of the various attributes of systems. Most current scientific approaches often attempt to reduce the complexity of problems to isolate and control variables. However, this type of reductionist approach comes at a cost. Indeed, the authors describe how health problems and DI processes are embedded in layers of multifaceted and hierarchical socioecological systems that change over time. Given that traditional statistical methods are often unable to account for this type of dynamism, new methods must be employed. Chapter 10 provides a user-friendly overview of 3 different mathematical approaches that have gained traction in public health and policy work to model the complexities inherent to DI research. Luke et al conclude this chapter with resources for those interested in applying these methods.
Chapter 26 describes another novel approach to DI work and expands upon the previous edition of the text: policy dissemination research. Relatively little is known about how policy makers promote, write, or approve of laws and regulations that have substantial impact on public health and, importantly, how those decisions can be shaped by research evidence. Policy dissemination research attempts to understand policy maker decision making by using 2 approaches: (1) audience research studies, which evaluate policy makers' knowledge about research evidence, as well their tendency and preferences to integrate it in their decision making; and (2) intervention studies, which assess the effectiveness of dissemination strategies on policy makers. Purtle and colleagues describe compelling examples of how these approaches can be used to address the barriers of translating research findings to public policy. Researchers and policy makers interested in effectuating legislative change will find this chapter insightful, and practitioners will gain a deeper understanding of how the decisions that affect their work get made.
The concluding chapter of the textbook highlights a number of areas in which future work is needed in DI research, one of which is designing for dissemination. Designing for dissemination refers to the process by which public health interventions are developed to align with adopter's needs, resources, and time frames. While the chapter alludes to the inherent tension between the incentives of researchers, who seek to make discoveries of new knowledge, and those of policy makers and practitioners, who seek to practically apply these discoveries, this section was slightly buried in the text. While we agree with the framing sentiment by Chambers in the Foreword, mentioned earlier, health innovations will continue to occur-how DI will grapple with these developments is still an area ripe for inquiry. Designing for dissemination is an important topic; we would like to see an entire chapter devoted to this topic in the third edition.
In sum, Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health: Translating Science to Practice (2nd edition), available through Oxford University Press (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/dissemination-and-implementation-researc) is the go-to-text for DI research and practice. In addition to providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the theory grounding this research, the chapters include a wide variety of case examples of implementation in action that span numerous settings and touch on important cultural and system-level factors that influence implementation success. Moreover, each chapter provides ample resources for researchers and policy makers interested in integrating these approaches in their work. We recommend this text for anyone-from practitioners to policy makers to scientists-interested in learning more about DI research.
-Briana S. Last, MA
Department of Psychology
The University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
-Brittany N. Rudd, BA
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
-Emily M. Becker-Haimes, PhD
-Rinad S. Beidas, PhD
Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research
Department of Psychiatry
Perelman School of Medicine
The University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania