Types of Interventions to Promote Research Use
Categories used to index different types of intervention to promote research use are listed below. Where more than three intervention types are discussed in the paper, it is indexed as “Multiple”.
Ensuring a relevant and useable research base
• RESEARCH PLANNING
e.g. involving policy makers or practitioners in developing research priorities and plans
Presentation and circulation of research findings
• WRITTEN MATERIALS
e.g. research summaries, briefing reports (excludes guidelines)
• INTERACTIVE WRITTEN MATERIALS
e.g. including exercises or checklists for practitioners (excludes guidelines)
• ORAL PRESENTATIONS
e.g. conferences, seminars
• ALTERNATIVE FORMATS
e.g. videos, CDs, audio tapes, on-line versions
• MASS MEDIA
e.g. TV, radio, magazines, newspapers
Improving access to research
• RESEARCH ACCESS
e.g. circulating research findings, providing access to research databases, conducting tailored searches of research
Providing guidance based on research
• RESEARCH-BASED GUIDANCE
e.g. good practice guides, consensus recommendations, guidelines
• PRACTICE TOOLS
- tools to support practice based on research e.g. assessment forms
Education and training based on research or to support research use or research-based practice
• EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
e.g. printed educational documentation
• PASSIVE/DIDACTIC EDUCATION
e.g. lectures
• INTERACTIVE EDUCATION
e.g. workshops involving discussions with experts or peers
• EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH
e.g. academic detailing
• GENERAL EDUCATION
e.g. small-group teaching, educational meetings
• STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING
e.g. continuing professional development, training staff in critical appraisal skills, training staff in research-based practices
Persuasive interventions to promote research use
• LOBBYING
e.g. lobbying local and national government
• ENDORSEMENT
e.g. opinion leaders, local champions, endorsement by professional organisations
• CLIENT-MEDIATED INTERVENTIONS
e.g. providing health care patients with research-based information
Improving the interaction between research and policy or practice
• BOUNDARY SPANNERS
- individual posts that span research-user contexts, e.g. lecturer-practitioners, policy brokers
• NETWORKS
e.g. research-policy networks, practitioner networks for disseminating research findings
• PROVISION OF EXPERT SUPPORT
e.g. researchers supporting practitioners to use research, information scientists assisting with literature searches
• RESEARCH-IN-PRACTICE
- testing out research findings in local contexts or applying locally conducted research, e.g. action research
• COLLABORATION
e.g. developing partnerships between researchers and research users, involving stakeholders in research processes
• PRACTITIONER RESEARCH
- practitioners conducting research
Requiring or reinforcing research utilisation
• RESEARCH INCENTIVES
e.g. research funding criteria that demand dissemination activities, increased budgets for dissemination
• FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
- to use research or to follow evidence-based practice, e.g. bonuses
• FEEDBACK
e.g. audit and feedback, cost information feedback
• REMINDERS
e.g. prompts, alerts
• OFFICE SYSTEMS
e.g. flow sheets, stickers, wall charts
• COMPUTER SUPPORT SYSTEMS
e.g. computer decision support systems, packages to support delivery of evidence-based programmes
• REGULATION
e.g. licensing, policy mandates
Organisational interventions
• CHANGES IN STRUCTURES
e.g. devolution of organisational research to local regions, project teams that include researchers
• QUALITY IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES
e.g. continuous quality improvement (CQI), total quality management (TQM)
• ORGANISATIONAL
e.g. changes in leadership, improved communication channels
Multifaceted interventions
• MULTI-COMPONENT INITIATIVES
- use of two or more interventions in a single package to support research use
• RESEARCH AND PRACTICE ORGANISATIONS
- organisations and agencies that aim to improve research use by practitioners
• RESEARCH CENTRES
- organisations and agencies focused on producing research but with a strong remit to improve the use of that research