It is estimated that it takes 17 years to translate 14% of evidence from original research to the benefit of patient care. In order to apply scientific data to make decisions, there is need to understand better how to take evidence- often generated in controlled conditions- and bring it to public health settings – also called “real-world” settings - that are often subject to variation and instability. One of the most critical issues impeding improvements in public health today is this enormous gap between our knowledge of strategies that can optimize health promotion and disease prevention and what actually gets implemented. Dissemination and implementation research is a field of inquiry that investigates the process of bringing solutions from biomedical research to public health practice and policy.
The purpose of this talk is to present the principles of dissemination and implementation research as they pertain to cervical cancer control; offer examples of research questions and programs from high-income and low-income countries that seek to bridge this gap between evidence and practice; and discuss research findings. These findings will highlight the role of individual-level, community-level, health systems-level and policy-level factors and discuss how these multi-level factors influence access as well as participation in cancer prevention, early detection, screening, and treatment programs. This talk seeks to promote discussion about dissemination and implementation research and will end with an outline of opportunities for research supported by the US NCI.
The paper is based on an analysis of the reserach and training programs in dissemination and implementation research both globally and nationally that are supported by the US National Cancer Institute.
Cervical cancer research has generated evidence that offers multiple benefits to populations - it can be prevented with a vaccine; there are tools available to detect it early and manage clinically. Despite this, cervical cancer is responsible for more than 270 000 deaths annually, 85% of which occur in developing countries (World Health Organization). The authors of this paper argue that in order to translate this evidence in cervical cancer research to the benefit women and communities worldwide, the tools of dissemination and implementation research might offer practical prevention and control strategies.