Measuring Readiness to Translate Research into Practice

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Both conducting high quality research and translating research findings into practice are important measures of success for practice-based research networks (PBRNs). We are interested in conducting exploratory research to understand how the organizational features of primary care practices affect their readiness to engage in research and its translation. The Colorado Research Network (CaReNet) is an AHRQ-funded PBRN dedicated to conducting research to improve the health and health care of diverse patient populations. As an important part of CaReNet's further growth and development, it is interested in collecting information to understand and improve how research is conducted and translated in its network practices. CaReNet proposes to collaborate with the Colorado Health Outcomes Program (COHO) at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center to test and refine methods for measuring the organizational readiness of primary care offices. COHO will build on the conceptual and methodological discussions that will occur during an AHRQ-funded small conference they will host in June titled "Assessing Organizational Features of Health Care Settings to Improve Quality." The first aim of this proposed study is to develop and test a conceptual model of how organizational features of PBRN practices affect their readiness to conduct research and to translate research findings into practice. This proposed R21 (Category II Support) will help to determine the reliability of proposed methods for characterizing PBRN practice-level readiness to change, and to determine how well practice-level readiness and its change over time predict PBRN practices' ability to conduct research and to translate research into practice. The second objective of this proposed study is to pilot methods for providing useful feedback to practices about their readiness and potential "interventions." The proposed research will be conducted within 20 primary care practices in CaReNet. Through the use of self-report surveys to measure practice-level readiness, and brief interviews and secondary data to measure each practice's research and translation efforts, we will improve our understanding of factors that affect how well practices adapt to and manage changes involved in conducting and translating research findings into practice.