Not the last word: dissemination strategies for patient-centred research in nursing

Abstract

Research results hold value for many stakeholders, including researchers, patient populations, advocacy organisations and community groups. The aim of this study is to describe our research team’s systematic process in designing a dissemination strategy for a completed research study. We organised a dissemination event to feed the results of our study to participants and stakeholders and collect feedback regarding our study. We applied the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s dissemination framework to guide the development of the event and collected participant feedback during the event. We describe our dissemination strategy along with attendees’ feedback and suggestions for our research as an example of a way to design a patient- and community-focused dissemination. We explain the details of our dissemination strategy, including (a) our process of reporting a large research study into a stakeholder event, (b) stakeholder feedback collected at the event and (c) the translation of feedback into our research team’s studies. We also describe challenges encountered during the dissemination process and ways to handle issues such as logistics, funding and staff. This analysis provides key insights and practical advice for researchers looking for innovative ways to disseminate their findings within the lay and scientific communities.