Lessons learned from four federal dissemination initiatives

The Office of Communications and Education (OCE) advances NCI's mission by disseminating research results to the public to improve the lives of those affected by cancer. Key to this charge is the identification of dissemination approaches that can accelerate research to practice. Toward this end, OCE conducted a comparative analysis and review of lessons learned from four of its dissemination initiatives, including (1) Body & Soul—a faith-based intervention; (2) the Clinical Trials Education Program—a train-the-trainer program; (3) Team Up—a pilot to increase breast and cervical cancer screening, and (4) Dialogue on Dissemination—a series of think tank meetings.

OCE conducted a three-step qualitative analysis to: 1) identify common themes, lessons learned, and applications; 2) determine whether strategies implemented in the four initiatives corroborated or contradicted best practices; and 3) provide recommendations for OCE dissemination efforts.

In general, the literature supported the strategies applied in the three initiatives and those that emerged from the think tank meeting. Eighteen lessons learned were grouped into four categories: importance of evidence-based approaches; partnership and stakeholder involvement; training and capacity-building; and the role of communication, promotion and sustainability.

Findings will be used to inform future dissemination activities and development of guidelines that support approaches focused on demonstrating critical partner outputs and intended audience strategies, and channels to move research to practice.