STAGE 7. Defining the sustainability and dissemination plan

What steps should be completed?

Step 2: Planning dissemination of the intervention and results

SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION

Scientific communication is the means of transmitting knowledge generated through research of a scientific and technological nature. The most common media and channels of scientific dissemination are specialised journals (printed or online) and professional meetings or congresses.

This type of communication requires that both the research and the format in which it is presented is carried out rigorously and supported by scientific method. If you wish to disseminate information about the intervention by these means, it is advisable to revise the requirements for publication or presentation of scientific communications in each of the sources. These conditions are usually publically accessible.

The reality is that many of the interventions that are carried out are not disseminated in scientific media, either because the professionals do not even try or because publishers or scientific committees reject communications that do not reach the levels of quality required. This dynamic has two effects: on the one hand, it helps to classify studies according to their quality, with the intention of saving the best, but it also means that some rigorous interventions never get published and known. A good option to communicate drug demand reduction interventions may be to use the good practice portals provided by some agencies. For example:

• Best Practice Portal. EMCDDA. 
• National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices. SAMHSA. 

There are currently many events and sources of information of a scientific nature. If you or your team wish to communicate your experience of the intervention in scientific forums, it is advisable to be realistic, to be informed about the media or channels that are most suited to the type of intervention carried out and seek the resources you require: financial (participation in congresses often involves a cost) and technical (e.g., knowledge of oral and/or written expression in scientific communications).