School of Population Medicine and Public Health, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, No.9 Dong Dan San Tiao, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100730, China.
The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Newtown, NSW, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Sep 16;24(1):2518. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-19820-z.
Research dissemination is essential to accelerate the translating of evidence into practice. Little is known about dissemination among Chinese public health researchers. This study aimed to explore the understanding and practices of disseminating research findings and to identify barriers and facilitators that influence dissemination activities to non-research audiences.
This study deployed an exploratory qualitative design with purposive and snowball sampling. One focus group with 5 participants and 12 in-depth interviews were conducted with participants working in diverse fields from universities (n = 10), the National Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (n = 4), the Chinese National Cancer Center (n = 1), the Chinese National Center for Cardiovascular Disease (n = 1), and China office of a global research institute (n = 1) from May to December 2021 to reach saturation. Data were initially analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. The designing for dissemination (D4D) logic model was then used to organize themes and subthemes. Two coders independently coded all transcripts and discussed disparities to reach a consensus.
Out of 17 participants, 12 misunderstood the concept of dissemination; 14 had disseminated to non-research audiences: 10 to the public, 10 to practitioners, and 9 to policymakers. We identified multiple barriers to dissemination to non-research audiences across four phases of the D4D logic model, including low priority of dissemination, limited application of D4D strategies, insufficient support from the research organizations, practice settings, and health systems, and overemphasis on academic publications.
There was a lack of understanding and experience of dissemination, indicating a lack of emphasis on active dissemination in China. We provide implications for raising awareness, building capacity, facilitating multidisciplinary collaboration, providing incentives and infrastructure, changing climate and culture, establishing communication and executive networks, and accelerating systematic shifts in impact focus.
研究传播对于加速证据转化为实践至关重要。关于中国公共卫生研究人员的传播情况知之甚少。本研究旨在探讨传播研究结果的理解和实践，并确定影响向非研究受众传播活动的障碍和促进因素。
本研究采用探索性定性设计，采用目的性和滚雪球抽样。2021 年 5 月至 12 月，我们对来自大学（n=10）、中国疾病预防控制中心（n=4）、中国国家癌症中心（n=1）、中国国家心血管病中心（n=1）和一家全球研究机构的中国办事处（n=1）等不同领域的 17 名参与者进行了 1 次焦点小组和 12 次深度访谈，直至达到饱和。最初使用归纳主题分析对数据进行分析。然后使用设计传播（D4D）逻辑模型组织主题和子主题。两名编码员独立对所有转录本进行编码，并讨论差异以达成共识。
17 名参与者中有 12 名误解了传播的概念；14 名已向非研究受众传播：10 名向公众，10 名向从业者，9 名向政策制定者。我们确定了在 D4D 逻辑模型的四个阶段中，向非研究受众传播的多个障碍，包括传播优先级低、D4D 策略应用有限、研究组织、实践环境和卫生系统支持不足，以及对学术出版物的过分强调。
中国对传播缺乏理解和经验，表明对积极传播的重视不够。我们为提高认识、建设能力、促进多学科合作、提供激励和基础设施、改变气候和文化、建立沟通和执行网络以及加速影响重点的系统转变提供了启示。
