Скачать или смотреть PHSSR InsideTrack Interview with Dr. Ross Brownson

Dr. Ross Brownson talks about his work at the Prevention Research Center and barriers to translating research into practice.

Q: What is the focus of your work with the Prevention Research Center?

A: A lot of my work focuses on the translation of research to practice and policy and so we do work with state and local health departments. We do a lot of work in workforce development and of course called evidence-based public health. We also do work with state policymakers trying to understand how they receive information, how information can best be packaged and how we might affect positive change so that they'll be more evidence-based policies.

Q: What are some of the barriers of moving research to practice?

A: There are number of barriers to moving research to practice. I think and some of these come from talking with practitioners and being a practitioner myself years back. I think a lot of it has to do with workforce preparedness that people working in practice agencies aren't always trained in the core public health disciplines.

I think there are lack of incentives at times for using evidence-based practices. In governmental public health we can't provide the same financial incentives that we might in the private sector. We have to think of more creative and different incentives than we would in say a financial sector or another private sector.

I think there are also challenges around the workforce decreases we've seen with the economic downturn. Many state and local agencies have been laying people off and I think there is sort of a critical mass factor that we call it. When you get enough people in the agency who are thinking critically about finding evidence and using evidence and doing the latest administrative practices that critical mass takes on a force of its own and that people are able to work together toward a common goal more effectively than they would as a single individual.