Methods for disseminating research products and increasing evidence-based practice: Promises, obstacles, and future directions

Although several different rationales for psychotherapy dissemination research have been well articulated, the most effective means for bringing research products to clinical practice have yet to be determined. Two commonly proposed methods are the dissemination of empirically supported treatments and the dissemination of general evidence-based stances to clinical decision making. Obstacles to either approach include (a) practical constraints on practitioners' ability to use research products, (b) lack of research on process and outcome of both empirically supported treatments and existing services in different practice contexts, (c) lack of research on acceptability of research products to end users including practitioners, clients, and administrators, (d) lack of research on training in the integration of science and practice at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels, (e) systemic economic contingencies that favor or punish evidence-based decision making, and (f) the tendency to construct dissemination as a hierarchical and unidirectional process of transmission from research to clinical practice. Each obstacle is considered in detail and followed by recommendations for ways to broaden the scope of dissemination efforts.