Box 2.

Researcher Roles and Contributions in Disseminating Evidence-Based Practices

Role	Context	Researcher Contribution
Sorting through evidence	Systematic reviews exist (eg, Guide to Community Preventive Services [18]; Cochrane Collaboration reviews [http://www.cochrane.org/]).	Provide an important service to disseminators and user organizations, such as summaries of reviews and customized literature reviews.
Conducting formative research	Effective dissemination depends on formative research about disseminators, user organizations, and people who are targets for health behavior change.	Assist with qualitative and quantitative research to ensure that dissemination approaches are appropriate for their intended organizational and individual audiences.
Assessing readiness of user organizations	Dissemination resources are limited; some user organizations will be more ready to adopt and implement evidence-based practices than others.	Develop readiness assessments that disseminators can use to channel resources to user organizations most likely to take advantage of them.
Balancing fidelity and reinvention	Tension often exists between fidelity of implementation necessary to ensure practice effectiveness and practice reinvention necessary to allow local ownership.	Identify core elements of the practice that must be implemented with fidelity to ensure effectiveness and modifiable elements of the practice that can be reinvented to fit local needs and context.
Monitoring and evaluating	User organizations need tools for rapid-cycle monitoring and evaluation of implementation success.	Help develop monitoring and evaluation tools.
Influencing outer context	User organizations often have less access to or credibility with policy makers than do researchers.	Influence policy and other changes needed to facilitate dissemination, through role as technical experts.
Testing dissemination approaches	If the field of dissemination is to move forward, dissemination approaches must undergo formal testing.	Conduct formal tests of dissemination approaches; obtain funding to support such tests.