15.1 Planning how to disseminate your results
Planning dissemination is really a matter of common sense and taking time to consider it properly. I have presented much of the information as questions for you to answer about your own work. This should provide the structure for you to develop a dissemination plan simply and quickly.
15.1.1 What information should I disseminate?
The first thing to consider is what you have found out. Be clear about this by asking yourself the following questions:
What are the key messages from your results?
Why are your results important? What do they add to what we already know?
What action should be taken?15.1.2 Who should I tell?
With this information you can start to consider how widely you need to disseminate your work and who is going to be most interested. Think carefully about who will want to know about your results and don’t just stop at the obvious (your manager, the R & D office and your peers). Think more widely to get your results really used (See Box 15.1 for further examples). Think about:
What are you hoping to achieve by disseminating your research?
Who will be interested in the results?
Who can use this research?
Who are the best individuals to target? Who can influence the group you are aiming at? This is particularly important if you want to change practice.
Who can help ‘spread the word’ in a particular group?
Research participants
Peers
Other health care professionals
Specialist team
Patients
Relatives
Patient support groups
Research funder
Local managers
Policy makers
Directors
R & D office
Director of Research
Your boss
Students
Local special interest groups
International audiences
Decision makers15.1.3 How do I reach my chosen audience?
Once you have a clear list of the people and groups who need to know about your results, think about how to target the information to the audience. You may well have several groups you wish to inform, and for each group you will want to use a different emphasis. Consider carefully what the audience will want to know and how to tailor your messages to them. For example, you can inform your peer group through conference presentations or journal articles. To inform the patient group you may need to consider magazine articles, press releases or talks to patient support groups. Examples of different mediums to use to disseminate your information are given in Box 15.2.
Once you are clear about what information to tell to whom, you need to decide how to do it. Ask yourself:
What activities will you undertake for each target audience?
What tools or materials will you need to support these activities?
When can you do it?
Who in your research team is best placed to talk to this particular group?
Have you got a budget for dissemination?Box 15.2 Examples of methods of dissemination.
| Conferences |  Within your department or organisation Area or regional meeting Local, national or international Posters Oral presentation |
| Journal |  Full paper Short report or letter News item Editorial |
| Reports |  To your funder To your organisation’s management To key decision makers Publish a report available to all |
| Teaching |  Presentations Workshops Seminars |
| Lay press |  Hospital newsletter Local or national newspapers TV and Radio Magazines |
| Local meetings |  Your own department Your own multi-disciplinary team Special interest groups within professions Clinical governance or audit meetings |
| Professional press |  Newsletters Society magazines Non-peer reviewed specialised press |
| Internet |  Your own organisation’s website Relevant professional bodies’ websites Relevant patient groups or charity websites Set up a specific website for the research |
15.1.4 Evaluate what you have achieved
After carrying out your dissemination plan it is worth evaluating what you have achieved.
Is it successful?
