Dissemination and implementation (D&I) science can be described as the scientific study of the strategies and mechanisms by which scientific evidence is disseminated and implemented in community or clinical settings to improve outcomes for a specified population. This paper provides an overview of D&I science as it relates to health and physical activity promotion. It provides definitions and specifications for D&I strategies and an overview of the types of theories, models, and frameworks used to advance this work. Finally, this review demonstrated the need for physical activity researchers to (a) test relationships between changes in D&I explanatory constructs and D&I outcomes; (b) determine the utility of D&I strategies, based on explanatory theories, to improve intervention reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance; (c) develop strategies to take interventions to scale and reduce disparities; and (d) develop interventions and D&I strategies, in collaboration with those who would ultimately be responsible for implementation.
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An Overview of Dissemination and Implementation Science in Physical Activity and Health Promotion
Paul Andrew Estabrooks
Overview of Translational Research, Implementation Science, and Scale-Up
Lindsay Nettlefold, Samantha M. Gray, Joanie Sims-Gould, and Heather A. McKay
Physical Activity Interventions to Reduce Metabolic Risk Factors to Cognitive Health
Darla Castelli and Christine Julien
Physical activity is a health-protective factor that can reduce disease risk in later life. Designing interventions that increase physical activity participation are paramount but need to increase potency and reduce the time to effectiveness. This paper aims to outline one transdisciplinary, team science effort to increase behavioral intervention potency through the integration of the autonomous cognition model whereby data guide each decision in developing a school-based physical activity intervention. Examples of data collected by stage and a summary of potential action steps are provided.
Sport and Physical Activity for Positive Youth Development Related to Social and Emotional Learning: Reflections From the Know-Do Gap
Paul M. Wright
Physical activity programs in school and community settings have the potential to foster positive youth development related to social and emotional learning. However, research findings and best practices that promote these outcomes are often not implemented in practice. The field of implementation science can help researchers understand and navigate the barriers to implementing what we know from research into policy and practice (i.e., to bridge the know-do gap). In this paper, after describing positive youth development, social emotional learning, and their application in physical activity settings, I share reflections from my engaged scholarship with the teaching personal and social responsibility model to illustrate ways my collaborators and I have tried to address the know-do gap. Lessons learned about ways that kinesiology researchers can actively support the implementation of our research in society are discussed.
Translating and Implementing Kinesiology Research Into Society
Ronald F. Zernicke and David H. Perrin
Closing the Gap Between Classroom-Based Physical Activity Intervention Adoption and Fidelity in Low-Resource Schools
Rebecca E. Hasson, Lexie R. Beemer, Andria B. Eisman, and Penelope Friday
The adoption of classroom-based physical activity interventions in elementary schools is nearly universal (92%), but fewer than 22% of teachers who implement activity breaks achieve a dose of 10 min/day. Dissemination and implementation science frameworks provide a systematic approach to identifying and overcoming barriers likely to impede successful adoption and fidelity of evidence-based interventions. This review highlights the development and subsequent tailoring of a classroom-based physical activity intervention, Interrupting Prolonged sitting with ACTivity (InPACT), for delivery in low-resource schools using implementation science frameworks focused on equity. Unlike most classroom physical activity interventions, tailored InPACT includes a suite of implementation strategies (methods or techniques that support adoption, implementation, and sustainment of a program or practice) and, thus, has been designed for dissemination. These strategies were focused on increasing teacher self-efficacy and reducing multilevel implementation barriers in low-resource schools to promote intervention fidelity, effectiveness, and sustainment.
Physical Activity Interventions During Childhood and Adolescence: A Narrative Umbrella Review Addressing Characteristics, Conclusions, and Gaps in Knowledge
Karin A. Pfeiffer, Katherine L. McKee, Cailyn A. Van Camp, and Kimberly A. Clevenger
Given the multifaceted nature of physical activity behavior in children and adolescents, researchers have conducted myriad intervention studies designed to increase physical activity across many populations, study designs, contexts, and settings. This narrative review overviews the characteristics, conclusions, and research gaps/future directions indicated in prior reviews of interventions to promote physical activity in youth and identifies potential knowledge gaps. Seven databases were searched for articles published between January 2012 and September 2022. A predetermined list of characteristics of included reviews was extracted. Reviews (n = 68) concluded that interventions were generally effective. Little attention was paid to implementation, theoretical framework was only addressed in about half of reviews, and only a quarter specifically examined individuals from underrepresented groups. Family, community, and policy work are needed, and overarching reviews such as this study should occasionally occur given the high number of reviews focusing on specific populations or settings.
Translational Physical Activity Research Involving People With Disabilities: A Review and a Call to Action
Kathleen A. Martin Ginis, Sarah V.C. Lawrason, and Haley A. Berrisford
The health and physical activity (PA) needs of people living with disabilities are underserved and understudied. This article provides an overview of research on PA and health research in people with disabilities. Research gaps and inequities are highlighted, along with their impact on advancing the fundamental rights of people with disabilities to fully participate in PA. The importance of translational PA research to disability communities is described. We provide case studies from two lines of PA and disability research that have been moved along the translational spectrum and into practice. The article concludes with three calls to action to kinesiology research and practitioners: (a) to include people with disabilities in research; (b) to advocate for adequate resources and support in alignment with equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts; and (c) to work in meaningful partnership with people with disabilities to support translational research programs that have real-world impacts.
From Start-Up to Scale-Up of a Health-Promoting Intervention for Older Adults: The Choose to Move Story
Lindsay Nettlefold, Samantha M. Gray, Joanie Sims-Gould, and Heather A. McKay
Interventions that are effective in research (efficacy or effectiveness) trials cannot improve health at a population level unless they are successfully delivered more broadly (scaled up) outside of the research setting. However, scale-up is often relegated to the too hard basket. Factors such as the need to adapt interventions prior to implementing them in diverse settings at scale, retaining fidelity to the intervention, and cultivating the necessary community and funding partnerships can all present a challenge. In the present review article, we present a scale-up case study—Choose to Move—an effective health-promoting intervention for older adults. The objectives of this review were to (a) describe the frameworks and processes adopted to implement, adapt, and scale up Choose to Move across British Columbia, Canada; (b) provide an overview of the phased approach to scale-up; and (c) share key lessons learned while implementing and scaling up health-promoting interventions with community partners across more than 2 decades.
Sport Pedagogy Research and Its Contribution to the Rediscovery of Joyful Participation in Physical Education
Peter A. Hastie
This paper begins with the premise that the purpose of physical education is to help young people grow personal and durable playgrounds. That is, its goal is to allow students in schools to develop the skills and understandings about various movement topics to the extent that they can engage with these in deep and meaningful ways long after their lessons in the gymnasium have concluded. The paper presents a schematic that links how a physical education curriculum should be framed with the necessary ingredients of high-quality teaching to allow for successful forays into various movement cultures. The next section includes a justification of the schema using the very best of research in sport pedagogy that has been translated into school physical education settings. Two specific grand adventures that are the vehicles for creating enduring playgrounds are presented, these being sport education and student-designed games.
