Center for Quality Aging, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37208, USA.
Human Nutrition, Food, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 12;19(24):16673. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416673.
In the National Cooperative Extension System (herein: Extension), state-level specialists serve as key intermediaries between research, educators, and the community members they serve. There is a need to understand information seeking and sharing practices (i.e., dissemination) among specialists to increase the adoption of evidence-based health promotion programs. Specialists ( = 94) across 47 states were identified and invited to participate in this mixed methods study. A one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni corrections was used to analyze survey data. Data collected through semi-structured interviews were analyzed using an immersion crystallization approach. Forty-seven health specialists completed the survey representing 31 eligible states (65%) and were predominately female (89%), Caucasian (70%), had a doctorate (62%), and were employed within Extension for 10.2 + 9.7 years. The information sources used most frequently were academic journals and other specialists, and most used email and online meetings to communicate. Qualitative findings support the use of other specialists as a primary source of information and indicate specialists' desire for an on-demand, bi-directional, online national repository of Extension programs. This repository would facilitate the dissemination of evidence-based programming across the system and reduce program duplication as well as information burden on county-based educators.
在美国合作推广体系（以下简称“推广体系”）中，州级专家作为研究人员、教育者与他们所服务的社区成员之间的主要桥梁。因此，需要了解专家们的信息搜索和共享实践（即传播），以促进基于证据的健康促进项目的采用。本研究选取了来自 47 个州的 94 名专家，并邀请他们参与这项混合方法研究。采用单向方差分析（One-way ANOVA）和 Bonferroni 校正来分析调查数据。通过半结构化访谈收集的数据采用沉浸结晶法（immersion crystallization approach）进行分析。47 名健康专家完成了调查，代表了 31 个符合条件的州（65%），他们主要是女性（89%）、白种人（70%）、拥有博士学位（62%），并在推广体系中工作了 10.2+9.7 年。专家们最常使用的信息来源是学术期刊和其他专家，他们最常使用电子邮件和在线会议进行沟通。定性研究结果支持将其他专家作为主要信息来源，并表明专家们希望有一个按需、双向、在线的全国推广项目资源库。这个资源库将促进整个体系中基于证据的项目的传播，并减少项目重复以及县级教育者的信息负担。
