A large gap remains between building evidence supporting innovative tobacco control approaches through research and application of findings in communities. A primary issue is making the evidence accessible to practitioners. Dissemination and implementation (D&I) research is dedicated to the translation and use of evidence in practice and can help address this issue. The purpose of the shared resource D&I Core is to enhance the utility and accessibility of the research in ASPiRE (Advancing Science and Practice in the Retail Environment) by integrating the principles of D&I Science across its research projects. Two interrelated aims comprise elevating the role of D&I in the ASPiRE Center and ensuring timely translation and targeted dissemination of data and findings. First, the Core will build capacity for D&I Science through consultation with representatives from each project to facilitate, design, and implement dissemination plans that identify key points for engagement of stakeholders. The Core will also help project staff construct systematic and achievable timelines for dissemination. Second, the D&I Core will work with each of the projects and the Data & Statistics Core to synthesize and translate findings into various types of products appropriately tailored to specific audiences of researchers, public health practitioners, and others. Products will include articles, case studies, conference presentations and webinars, dashboards, data visualizations, fact sheets, social media content, or other materials. As part of this aim, the D&I Core will also collaborate with the Administrative Core to set the agenda and maximize the impact for annual Next Steps meetings with the Community Advisory Board designed to engage and connect scientists, legal experts, and tobacco control programs with the work of the Center. This purposeful attention to active dissemination of the Center?s scientific and translational products will enhance the return on the scientific investment and support evidence-informed tobacco control nationally.
Tobacco control strategies that focus on the omnipresence of tobacco in retail environments are relatively new and lack a strong evidence base as compared to traditional approaches like smoke-free air and excise taxes. The Dissemination and Implementation Shared Resource Core will integrate best practices from Dissemination and Implementation Science in all stages of the Advancing Science and Practice in the Retail Environment (ASPiRE) Center?s research to help translate and disseminate evidence. This will expedite and enhance the translation of the Center?s work for practitioners at the front lines of tobacco control working to reduce tobacco use and tobacco-related cancers and other health conditions.
