Recommendations for interdisciplinary research collaboration for early career dissemination and implementation researchers: A multi-phase study

Hannah G Lane; Sallie D Allgood; Julie Schexnayder; Hayden B Bosworth; Ana A Baumann; Allison A Lewinski

doi:10.1017/cts.2024.684

Recommendations for interdisciplinary research collaboration for early career dissemination and implementation researchers: A multi-phase study

J Clin Transl Sci. 2025 Jan 17;9(1):e39. doi: 10.1017/cts.2024.684. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Hannah G Lane¹, Sallie D Allgood², Julie Schexnayder³, Hayden B Bosworth^{1

2

4

5

6}, Ana A Baumann⁷, Allison A Lewinski^{2

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
² Duke University School of Nursing, Durham, NC, USA.
³ University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing, Birmingham, AL, USA.
⁴ Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
⁶ Durham Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation, Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Durham, NC.
⁷ Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Washington University in St. Louis, St Louis, MO, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: Dissemination and implementation (D&I) scientists are key members of collaborative, interdisciplinary clinical and translational research teams. Yet, early career D&I researchers (ECRs) have few guidelines for cultivating productive research collaborations. We developed recommendations for ECRs in D&I when serving as collaborators or co-investigators.

Methods: We employed a consensus-building approach: (1) group discussions to identify 3 areas of interest: "Marketing yourself" (describing your value to non-D&I collaborators), "Collaboration considerations" (contributions during proposal development), and "Responsibilities following project initiation" (defining your role throughout projects); (2) first survey and focus groups to iteratively rank/refine sub-domains within each area; (3) second survey and expert input on clarity/content of sub-domains; and (4) iterative development of key recommendations.

Results: Forty-four D&I researchers completed the first survey, 12 of whom attended one of three focus groups. Twenty-nine D&I researchers completed the second survey (n = 29) and 10 experts provided input. We identified 25 recommendations. Findings suggest unique collaboration strengths (e.g, partnership-building) and challenges (e.g., unclear link to career milestones) for ECR D&I researchers, and underscore the value of ongoing training and mentorship for ECRs and the need to intersect collaborative D&I efforts with health equity principles.

Conclusions: Research collaborations are essential in clinical and translational research. We identified recommendations for D&I ECRs to be productive research collaborators, including training and support needs for the field. Findings suggest an opportunity to examine research collaboration needs among early career D&I scientists, and provide guidance on how to successfully provide mentorship and integrate health equity principles into collaborative research.

Keywords: Implementation science; health services research; information dissemination; interdisciplinary research; intersectoral collaboration; program development.