The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #64317

Denise J. Drevdahl, RN, PhD, Nursing Program, University of Washington, Tacoma, 1900 Commerce St., Box 358421, Tacoma, WA 98402-3100, 253-692-5671, drevdahl@u.washington.edu

As a practice-based discipline, the central premise for conducting nursing research is to apply its findings to practice. Nursing and public health research in general, and public health nursing research in particular, have always had improving practice the ultimate, or eventual goal. With few exceptions, trends in funding patterns through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), however, have increasingly called for intervention-based proposals or have accelerated the pace in which it is expected that interventions be tested within any one investigator’s program of research. While the value of developing effective interventions for improving the health of individuals, populations, and/or communities is apparent, what has been missing in the discourse surrounding an ever-increasing body of intervention-based research is earnest discussion about the difficulties of implementing findings into practice. This is particularly true for interventions designed for use at the population or community level, where putting findings into practice often requires significant structural, material, or social resources in the form of “public goods” (in economic terms). The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of the philosophical and ethical dilemmas inherent in promoting intervention-based research in communities when support for implementing findings into practice has been largely apathetic. In addition, how implementation difficulties in this area either have impeded or threaten to impede further research examining social and economic determinants of health will be explored.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to:
• Identify the fundamental basis for conducting intervention research
• Discuss issues surrounding the implementation of population and community-level intervention- based research findings into practice
• Articulate how implementation difficulties associated with population-focused and community-level interventions may affect research examining social and economic determinants of health

Keywords: Social Justice, Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.