Opportunities and challenges in conducting community-engaged dissemination/implementation research

Dissemination and implementation (D&I) research has emerged in recent years in response to the recognition that the pathway from research to practice is complex, lengthy, and rarely completed [1, 2]. As studies have suggested that only a fraction of scientific findings have an impact on health and health care [3], D&I research centers on the processes to get those findings, often evidence-based interventions, integrated within the variety of clinical and community systems where health care is delivered. Evidence-based interventions can range in focus from diagnostics, prevention, treatment, and maintenance of health, and can target individuals or populations. D&I research frequently assumes that an evidence base for interventions has already been established. Too often, many innovations gain evidence through efficacy trials that establish the intervention produces its intended outcome, yet are not disseminated or implemented further. While this has been somewhat remediated by an increase in effectiveness research, testing innovations within real-world settings and populations, there is still a need to determine how evidence and evidence-based interventions make their way toward standard care.