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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Jenine K. Harris, MA, MAT¹, Rachael Zuckerman¹, Ryan C. Burke, BS¹, Stephanie Herbers, MPH, MSW¹, and Douglas A. Luke, PhD². (1) Center for Tobacco Policy Research, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Ave. Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63104, 314-977-8210, harrisjk@slu.edu, (2) Health Communication Research Laboratory, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Ave, St. Louis, MO 63104

The internet is being used more frequently as a repository for public health information. Little is known, however, about its usefulness for disseminating research findings. The dissemination of research findings to public health practitioners is critical because of the important role they play in putting research into practice. The internet should not be overlooked as an alternative to traditional strategies, such as publishing and presenting at conferences, for reaching this audience. After conducting an evaluation of state tobacco control programs, the Center for Tobacco Policy Research created tailored websites to disseminate findings to participating state and local tobacco control professionals. We hypothesized that the websites would: reach a wide audience, allow users flexibility in when, where, and which results they viewed, and be low cost. Over 100 tobacco control professionals in four states were sent links to a website detailing the findings for their program. After four months of tracking website use, the websites have had 153 unique visitors from 24 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, England, and Turkey. In addition to tracking, qualitative surveys administered to the participants were used to assess the utility of the websites. Challenges identified during development included: creating website navigation allowing users to easily find useful information, having the technical resources and expertise to develop and house the websites, and providing unique and useful information that would stand out among the large amount of information online. Other researchers can use the information presented to understand the strengths and challenges associated with a web-based dissemination strategy.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Participants will describe how a web-based dissemination method can be used to reach public health practitioners.
• 2. Participants will understand the strengths and challenges associated with a web-based dissemination strategy.

Keywords: Communication Technology, Tobacco

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered