Designing for Dissemination and Sustainability to Promote Equitable Impacts on Health

Designing for dissemination and sustainability (D4DS) refers to principles and methods for enhancing the fit between a health program, policy, or practice and the context in which it is intended to be adopted. In this article we first summarize the historical context of D4DS and justify the need to shift traditional health research and dissemination practices. We present a diverse literature according to a D4DS organizing schema and describe a variety of dissemination products, design processes and outcomes, and approaches to messaging, packaging, and distribution. D4DS design processes include stakeholder engagement, participatory codesign, and context and situation analysis, and leverage methods and frameworks from dissemination and implementation science, marketing and business, communications and visualarts, and systems science. Finally, we present eight recommendations to adopt a D4DS paradigm, reflecting shifts in ways of thinking, skills and approaches, and infrastructure and systems for training and evaluation.

Topic search filters: a systematic scoping review

BACKGROUND

Searching for topics within large biomedical databases can be challenging, especially when topics are complex, diffuse, emerging or lack definitional clarity. Experimentally derived topic search filters offer a reliable solution to effective retrieval; however, their number and range of subject foci remain unknown.

OBJECTIVES

This systematic scoping review aims to identify and describe available experimentally developed topic search filters.

METHODS

Reports on topic search filter development (1990-) were sought using grey literature sources and 15 databases. Reports describing the conception and prospective development of a database-specific topic search and including an objectively measured estimate of its performance ('sensitivity') were included.

RESULTS

Fifty-four reports met inclusion criteria. Data were extracted and thematically synthesised to describe the characteristics of 58 topic search filters.

DISCUSSION

Topic search filters are proliferating and cover a wide range of subjects. Filter reports, however, often lack clear definitions of concepts and topic scope to guide users. Without standardised terminology, filters are challenging to find. Information specialists may benefit from a centralised topic filter repository and appraisal checklists to facilitate quality assessment.

CONCLUSION

Findings will help information specialists identify existing topic search filters and assist filter developers to build on current knowledge in the field.