145 - Evaluating Community and Partner Engagement in Disseminating Research and Practice Tools to Program Implementers: Challenges and Considerations for Program Evaluation

Abstract Information: The Prevention Research Centers (PRC) Program is a network of academic research centers that conduct applied public health prevention research using a community engagement approach. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently funds 26 PRCs nationally to conduct a Core Research Project (CRP) addressing how communities can reduce risks for chronic illnesses. Each PRC is required to establish and maintain a Community Advisory Board (CAB) made up of community members and partners to advise on PRC research activities. CAB members are engaged in all phases of PRC research, including dissemination activities. In addition, PRCs engage cross-sector partners for disseminating, translating, and scaling up effective interventions. Dissemination of CRP findings and related products, including practice tools for public health practitioners and program implementers, is a key focus of the PRC Program. PRC CAB members and partners play a critical role in advising on dissemination strategies, and many also actively participate in dissemination activities. Some community and partner-involved dissemination activities include traditional research dissemination approaches, such as co-authoring peer-reviewed publications. Other activities include more informal approaches such as reaching out to partner networks to share information and conducting trainings utilizing PRC practice tools. CAB and partner engagement in dissemination enables PRCs to reach key audiences with information and resources to put PRC research into practice. CDC collects data on PRC dissemination activities through the Program Evaluation and Reporting System (PERS). These data are used to evaluate the extent to which PRC engagement of partners and community members facilitated dissemination of their CRP findings and contributed to intended audiences using or adopting PRC products and tools. PERS collects both quantitative and qualitative data from PRCs annually during the 5-year funding cycle through multiple-choice selection and short answer items. CDC evaluators analyze these data based on the PRC Program evaluation questions and indicators to understand PRC processes and the extent to which PRCs have achieved program outcomes. This presentation will describe the PRC Program’s approach to evaluating research dissemination and what CDC evaluators learned about PRC dissemination during the current 5-year cycle, including challenges and limitations of PERS data for answering the evaluation questions. Engagement of the PRC Network in the interpretation of evaluation findings through the PRC Evaluation Workgroup will also be described. This engagement of PRCs in the interpretation of their data was an important step for CDC evaluators to consider varying perspectives and validate evaluation findings. Finally, the application of lessons learned to the next cycle evaluation of research dissemination to better describe PRC activities and understand PRC outcomes will be discussed.