Measuring the impact of prevention research on public health practice

Context: Prevention research involves the translation of established and promising methods of disease prevention and health promotion to communities. Despite its importance, relatively little attention has been paid to systematic approaches to determining the impact of prevention research on public health practice. Evaluation of these effects is challenging, particularly in light of multi-factor causation, long time periods between exposure and disease occurrence, and difficulties in determining costs and benefits. Objective: To develop a framework that allows the prospective or retrospective evaluation of the effects and effectiveness of prevention research. Results: The proposed framework allows assessment of prevention research in five areas of public health practice: surveillance and disease investigation, program delivery, policies and regulations, recommendations to the public, and public health education and training. A brief case study of environmental tobacco smoke illustrates the public health impact of prevention research. Conclusions: Greater translation of prevention research findings is needed to accomplish public health goals--efforts are enhanced by academic-practice partnerships. The relevance and utility of the current framework needs additional testing with a variety of public health issues.