Worksite health promotion in six varied US sites: beta testing as a needed translational step.

BACKGROUND

Dissemination of health promotion interventions generally has followed an efficacy, effectiveness to full scale paradigm, and most programs have failed to traverse that sequence.

OBJECTIVE

Report national dissemination of a health promotion program and juxtapose sequential case study observations with the current technology transfer literature.

DESIGN

Multiple department-level case studies using contact logs, transcribed interactions, augmented with field notes and validated by respondent review; at least two investigators independently generated site summaries, which were compared to formulate a final report.

RESULTS

Adoption was facilitated with national partners and designing branded materials. Critical site influences included departmental features, local champions, and liaison relationships. Achieving distal reach and fidelity required sequential process and program revisions based on new findings at each site.

CONCLUSIONS

Beta testing to redesign program elements and modify process steps appears to be a needed and often ignored translational step between efficacy and more widespread dissemination.