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

Lane, Allgood, Schexnayder, Bosworth, Baumann, Lewinski. Recommendations for interdisciplinary research collaboration for early career dissemination and implementation researchers: A multi-phase study. Journal of clinical and translational science. 2025 Jan 17; 9(1):e39, DOI: 10.1017/cts.2024.684.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• NRI 18-234 – Tailored Approaches to Reduce Distress and Improve Self-Management for Veterans with Diabetes (TARDIS)

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: Dissemination and implementation (DandI) scientists are key members of collaborative, interdisciplinary clinical and translational research teams. Yet, early career DandI researchers (ECRs) have few guidelines for cultivating productive research collaborations. We developed recommendations for ECRs in DandI 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-DandI 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 DandI researchers completed the first survey, 12 of whom attended one of three focus groups. Twenty-nine DandI researchers completed the second survey ( = 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 DandI researchers, and underscore the value of ongoing training and mentorship for ECRs and the need to intersect collaborative DandI efforts with health equity principles. CONCLUSIONS: Research collaborations are essential in clinical and translational research. We identified recommendations for DandI 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 DandI scientists, and provide guidance on how to successfully provide mentorship and integrate health equity principles into collaborative research.