Multi-Stage Dissemination as a Pathway to Action in Rural Community Development

Dissemination is often described as the final phase of participatory research, yet emerging scholarship highlights its role throughout a project as a means of fostering equity, trust, and shared decision-making. In rural and under-resourced settings, culturally grounded and multimodal dissemination strategies are essential to ensure findings are both accessible and actionable. This manuscript draws on a two-year, cross-sector collaboration focused on reimagining the built environment to support health in a rural Appalachian community. The project treated dissemination as an ongoing opportunity to engage the public, refine ideas, and support action grounded in local priorities. Data collection followed two parallel participatory processes: community conversations with adults and Dream Town workshops with youth. Trained local liaisons facilitated asset mapping and collaborative design activities to identify priorities for improving community health through the built environment. In PreK–8 art classes, youth used arts-based methods to imagine healthy, connected communities, with high school students later translating these ideas into design proposals. Dissemination occurred at multiple stages. Early themes from community conversations were shared back through visual displays and structured verbal surveys in public sites to refine emerging priorities. Findings from Dream Town youth workshops were shared with high school co-researchers to inform their design work. A final countywide event brought youth and adults together to reflect on results and co-develop next steps. This manuscript outlines our process and explores the promise and complexity of multi-stage participatory dissemination and highlights strategies for designing dissemination as a pathway to collective action.