Dissemination

First step in translating research into practice is disseminating the knowledge gained by research. Dissemination can happen in different forms, including scientific publications and presentations in academic settings, reports for policy maker settings, flyers, brochures, and posters in community and clinical settings, news, social media, and other forms of media for general publicity. The goal of dissemination is to make sure different stakeholders and sectors become aware of the research result, including the effectiveness of the new program or practice. The Ecological Model (3) (introduced in detail in Module 2) presents different levels of stakeholders very well. To learn more about dissemination at the different levels of the ecological model please see Module 2. It is important to use different communication channels and strategies, as well as technical languages appropriate to each sector of the society so the results are accessible and meaningful. For example, if we want to disseminate the results regarding effectiveness of the diabetes prevention program, we need to make the results accessible to: 

• The community, through providing health education to the community  
• Scientists, so they learn about the new prevention program and improve it 
• Public health professionals, so they can implement the programs in health settings 
• Healthcare providers, so they implement the programs in their routine practices
• Health policy makers, so they allocate support for nonpharmacological approaches