Fact Sheet: Engaging the Media: Being interviewed

Health and medical research is one of the most widely reported sources of news. At some point in your primary health care research career, you are likely to be invited to take part in a media interview. This will be a vital opportunity to publicise your research specialty area and your latest research findings. All researchers can benefit from preparation; the media is reactive and unpredictable and you never know when your interview opportunity may arise. Whether you are preparing to be interviewed for print, online, radio or television media, this fact sheet will be a useful guide

Co-morbidity of mental and physical illness: meeting unmet care needs

People with chronic physical conditions experience poorer mental health compared to the general population. Co-morbid depression and chronic disease are associated with high healthcare use and high costs to the health system. Despite improvements in mental health care service delivery, people experiencing mental illness have high mortality from physical health issues, suggesting that the health care needs of this group are not being met. This RESEARCH ROUNDup explores the reasons for primary health care disadvantage among people with physical and mental illness co-morbidity, and strategies to improve health care provision for this group

Strategies to reduce barriers and inequities in access to health care services for rural/remote areas

Objective: To identify strategies to improve accessibility to Primary Health Care (PHC) services for people living in rural and remote areas, particularly for those in greatest need. Method: A review of the literature was undertaken. A range of bibliographic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, PsychInfo, Web of Science, Scopus), relevant websites, specialty journals, systematic reviews and the grey literature were searched. A snowballing technique was used to identify additional material

Effective dissemination: An examination of the costs of implementation strategies for the AOD field.

This document is Part Two of a 3-part series by the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) examining the effectiveness, costs and theories related to dissemination and implementation of research into practice. Part One is a systematic literature review that evaluated the effectiveness of 16 different dissemination strategies for facilitating the implementation of new research, programs and treatments to improve outcomes for clients with alcohol and other drug-related problems. Part Two involves an examination of the costs associated with using such strategies, and Part Three is an examination of the theories and models of change underlying the use of strategies. In this Part, the costs of implementing innovations and the implications of using dissemination strategies for the alcohol and other drug (AOD) field are examined. Part One in this series is a systematic review of the effectiveness of dissemination and implementation strategies (Bywood, Lunnay, & Roche, 2008). However, evidence related to economic considerations was not based on a systematic search using relevant terms associated with economic analysis. Rather, it is a summary of the evidence from the systematic review on effectiveness that also contained data on costs of using an implementation strategy. All studies in Part One that showed evidence that a particular strategy was effective in changing practitioners’ behaviour or improving organisational efficiency were scrutinised to determine whether an economic analysis had also been undertaken. These studies then formed the evidence base for the present report. An implementation strategy can be effective, without being cost-effective. Thus, from an economic perspective, the key question is whether certain dissemination and implementation activities involve a more efficient use of limited resources compared to other activities. The key research questions for this study were: 1. What are the economic considerations for the use of effective dissemination and implementation strategies? 2. Which implementation strategies provide an efficient and cost-effective means by which to facilitate uptake of innovations by the AOD field? The key findings from this review are: • CME was generally effective and cost-effective, although formats differed substantially • Educational outreach showed mixed results on cost-effectiveness • Educational materials were relatively cheap, but had little effectiveness • Multi-faceted approaches differed substantially in context and content, making it difficult to make meaningful comparisons on the basis of cost • The evidence base of studies containing good quality economic analyses was limited (only 9 of the 16 strategies were evaluated for costs) • Studies that reported on costs of implementation strategies were heterogeneous, reporting of details and quality of methodology was poor, and data collection was incomplete • Few studies evaluated costs of implementation strategies in the AOD field • There is a need for future evaluation studies to examine efficiency through use of economic evaluation

Effective dissemination: a systematic review of implementation strategies for the AOD field

Innovations, such as treatment interventions, programs and therapies, may be costly to develop and evaluate and there is increasing political and financial pressure to ensure that effective and cost-effective health care and professional services are available where needed. Eeven when practitioners are aware of the evidence for best practice and are willing to change their behaviour, making the required changes in the context of long established patterns of behaviour can be difficult, particularly if the organisational environment is not conducive to change. Moreover, innovations are not self-executing. Even simple programs that require only small changes may benefit from an effective implementation strategy. The National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction undertook a systematic literature review of the most commonly used strategies designed to increase the uptake of innovations into professional practice. Analyses were undertaken to evaluate their effectiveness and to determine their relevance and applicability for use in the alcohol and other drugs (AOD) field. By evaluating and synthesising the evidence from a wide range of sources, NCETA aimed to identify the key factors underlying successful dissemination strategies and develop a framework for dissemination and implementation of innovations in the AOD field

Fact Sheet: Engaging the Media: Writing a succinct media release

Media releases offer the opportunity to promote and publicise details about your work to the media. When written well media releases will highlight key messages about your work, be immediately interesting and eye-catching to the journalist. This fact sheet highlights what to consider when writing a media release

Disparities in primary health care utilisation: Who are the disadvantaged groups? How are they disadvantaged? What interventions work?

This Policy Issue Review draws on recent evidence to provide a picture of who in Australia experiences poor access to primary health care services, including particular areas of need, and how such needs may be remedied through intervention approaches that focus on equitable distribution of quality health care and outcomes

Fact Sheet: Primary Health Care Matters

This Fact Sheet includes definitions, position statements and suggested reading about primary health care (PHC) as well as outlining the differences between comprehensive and selected PHC. And as a hard copy it can be disseminated at conferences and workshops or around the office

The practise and practice of Bourdieu: the application of social theory to youth alcohol research

This paper presents theoretically informed qualitative research that investigates why young Australian females (aged 14–17) drink and how social and cultural context form the basis, rather than the periphery, of their drinking experience. We demonstrate the utility of Pierre Bourdieu's sociological framework for delving beyond the dichotomy of young people's drinking decisions as either a determination of their cultural environment or the singular result of a rational individual's independent decision-making. The paper is presented in two parts. First, we provide the interpretation, or ‘practise’, of Bourdieu's concepts through an outline and application of his complex theoretical constructs. Specifically, the concept of symbolic capital (or social power) is applied. Second, our explication of Bourdieu's ‘practice’, or epistemological contributions, offers a methodologically grounded example to other researchers seeking to attain more complete understandings of the social processes underpinning youth alcohol consumption

Fact Sheet: Design posters for maximum impact

Do you want your research or program evidence to effect changes to policy and practice? How can you use posters to communicate your key messages to those who matter? How can you maximise the impact of your poster and/or poster presentation