NICHD Priorities for Dissemination and Implementation Research

“Dissemination” describes active efforts to spread knowledge and innovations based on research findings. Dissemination research is the scientific study of directed distribution of information and intervention materials to a specific public health, clinical practice, or policy audience. The intent of dissemination research is to understand how best to communicate and integrate knowledge and the associated evidence-based interventions.

“Implementation” encompasses active efforts to increase integration of evidence-based innovations and interventions into routine, real-world practices and settings. Implementation research is the scientific study of strategies for adopting and integrating evidence-based health interventions into clinical and community settings to improve individual outcomes and benefit population health.

Broadly, D&I research studies involve interdisciplinary cooperation and transdisciplinary collaboration, in addition to utilizing theories, empirical findings, and methods from a variety of scientific disciplines.

NOFOs for D&I Research

• PAR-25-233: D&I Research in Health (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PAR-25-144: D&I Research in Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)
• PAR-25-143: Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)

Applicants responding to the D&I NOFOs should review NICHD research priorities to ensure that their applications are relevant to the NICHD mission:

• NICHD Priority Research Areas
• NICHD Strategic Plan 2020
• Extramural component webpages outline component-specific research priorities:
  • Division of Extramural Research (DER) Scientific Branches
  • National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR)

Review Sections for D&I Applications

• Science of Implementation in Health and Health Care (SIHH) (led by Dr. Wenjuan Wang)
• Shared Interests and Overlaps
  • Organization and Delivery of Health Services (ODHS) 
  • Health Services: Quality and Effectiveness (HSQE) 
  • Health Promotion in Communities (HPC)
  • Clinical Informatics and Digital Health (CIDH)

If you have questions about NICHD’s interests relevant to current NOFOs or would like to discuss your research concept, please contact any of the following staff (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Toyin Ajisafe (National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research)
• Sujata Bardhan (Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Branch)
• Allahna Esber and Franklin Yates (Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Disease Branch)
• Camille Fabiyi (Obstetric and Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics Branch)
• Leah Gilbert (Pediatric Trauma and Critical Illness Branch)
• Tracy King (Child Development and Behavior Branch)
• Marion Koso-Thomas (Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch)
• Ronna Popkin (Population Dynamics Branch)
• Jenelle Walker (Office of Global Health, NICHD Office of the Director)
• Karen Winer (Pediatric Growth and Nutrition Branch)

Meetings

• February 24, 2021: Video and Presentation Materials for D&I Panel Discussion “The Role of Dissemination and Implementation Science to Strengthen Research in NICHD Populations”

Training and Education Opportunities

• Center for D&I, Institute for Public Health (Washington University in St. Louis)
  The centers advances D&I research methods by building training opportunities and catalyzing newly applied D&I research across health specialties to ensure delivery of the most effective services in clinical and public health settings.
• Fundamentals of Implementation Research
  This module offers a practical and useful introduction to the language, concepts, tools, and strategies used in implementation research for researchers and program implementers.
• HIV, Infectious Disease, and Global Health Implementation Research Institute (HIGH-IRI) (Washington University in St. Louis)
  Using implementation research to advance public health response, HIGH-IRI offers mentored training in dissemination and implementation research methods focused on HIV, infectious diseases, and global health. The program includes a 2-year period of training and mentorship with two 1-week in-residence sessions in St. Louis and remote mentorship throughout the year.
• Implementation Research Institute (IRI) (Washington University, St. Louis)
  IRI helps advance the field of implementation science in mental health by enhancing the career development of early to mid-career investigators.
• Implementation Science Exchange (University of North Carolina)
  This comprehensive site offers trainings and tutorials, sample grants and funding opportunities, tools and resources, and networking, newsletters, and communities.
• Implementation Science in Global Health Summer Institute (University of Washington)
  This 1-week course offers an intensive dive into the field of implementation science. Instructors will outline and explore an interdisciplinary framework of methods (including applied engineering, management tools, health systems, and policy research), apply them to improving implementation and scale-up of health programs, and pair them with experiential case studies.
• Implementation Science Resource Hub (University of Washington)
  This resource provides a basic introduction to implementation science, a step-by-step guide to conducting research, and training opportunities.
• Learning Health Systems Rehabilitation Research Network (LeaRRn) (Brown University)
  This national resource network strives to advance stakeholder-partnered, rehabilitation learning health systems research to improve quality of care, demonstrate value, and enhance patient and system outcomes. LeaRRn provides training to promote core research competencies, such as using a system-science approach, asking meaningful questions, applying appropriate research methods, and optimizing quality improvement and implementation science. 
• Partnerships for Research in Implementation Science for Equity (PRISE) Center (University of California, San Francisco [UCSF])
  Through the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, PRISE offers a variety of training and career development programs in implementation science, including the Implementation Science Certificate Program, for researchers, clinicians, and public health practitioners.
• Training Institute for D&I Research in Cancer (TIDIRC) Facilitated Course
  This Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences-led course provides a thorough foundation in conducting D&I research with a specific focus on cancer, across the cancer control continuum.

Frameworks , Theories, and Models

• Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR)
  The CFIR provides a menu of constructs that can be used for a range of applications across five domains. This practical theory-based guide helps researchers systematically assess potential barriers and facilitators, informing efforts to tailor implementation strategies and adaptations for innovations and/or explain outcomes.
• D&I Models in Health
  This interactive website helps researchers select, adapt, and integrate D&I models in research and practice, and find existing measurement instruments for the model constructs.
• Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) Framework
  The EPIS Framework highlights key phases that guide and describe the implementation process. The framework also enumerates common and unique factors within and across levels of outer context (system) and inner (organizational) context across phases, factors that bridge outer and inner context, the nature of the innovation or practice, and the role of innovation/practice developers.
• Group-Evaluated Measures (GEM) 
  This project aims to inform the cancer D&I research and practice evidence base by identifying outcomes and associated measures, and creating standardized, vetted D&I measures.
• QUERI: Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (Veterans Administration)
  This guide introduces approaches to conducting research on implementation, including methods, tools, resources, and more.
• Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM)
  RE-AIM and the Practical Implementation Sustainability Model (PRISM) are an integrated framework that improves adoption and sustainable implementation of evidence-based interventions in a wide range of health, public health, educational, community, and other settings.

D&I Resources at NIH

• Fogarty International Center (FIC): Resources for Implementation Science Researchers 
  As outlined in the FIC Strategic Plan, the center aims to support research and research training in implementation science using a distributed approach across its programs. Also, projects coordinated by the Center for Global Health Studies at FIC support implementation science research methods and frameworks and use innovative approaches to supporting implementation science.
• National Cancer Institute (NCI): Implementation Science 
  This website describes NCI efforts to improve the impact of cancer control and population science on the health and health care of the population, and foster the rapid integration of research, practice, and policy.
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH): D&I Research Interests 
  NCCIH supports D&I trials that test innovative approaches to overcoming barriers to the adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up, scale-out, and sustainability of evidence-based complementary and integrative health interventions, tools, policies, and guidelines.
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI): Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science (CTRIS) 
  CTRIS plans, fosters, and supports research to identify the best strategies for ensuring successful integration of evidence-based interventions within clinical and public health settings, such as health centers, worksites, communities, and schools in the United States and abroad.
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS): Implementation Science in Environmental Health 
  NIEHS efforts in this area seek to promote evidence-based prevention and intervention methods to advance environmental health equity.
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): D&I Research Program 
  This NIMH program includes studies that will contribute to the development of a sound knowledge base on the effective transmission of mental health information to multiple stakeholders and of the process by which efficacious interventions can be adopted within clinical settings.
• Office of Disease Prevention (ODP): D&I Research 
  The NIH ODP supports D&I research on how evidence-based practices, interventions, and policies are effectively translated to and used in real-world settings like hospitals, schools, and communities.