Shea CM, Young TL, Powell BJ, et al. (2017). Researcher readiness for participating in community-engaged dissemination and implementation research: A conceptual framework of core competencies. Translational Behavioral Medicine. doi: 10.1007/s13142-017-0486-0
To address a need for improved involvement of stakeholders in dissemination and implementation (D&I) research, researchers developed a framework of competencies for researchers involved in community-engaged dissemination and implementation (CEDI). Development of the framework began with compiling principles for community engagement, guided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Principles of Community Engagement, Theory of Planned Behavior, Theory of Reasoned Action, and Social Cognitive Theory. Based on these principles, researchers generated core competencies for carrying out the principles and mapped them to larger domains. Five community stakeholders reviewed the competencies and domains and provide feedback on anything that was missing, inappropriate, or repetitive. The final framework included 40 competencies that fell under nine domains. Domains in the framework described a researcher’s: 1) attitudes towards enhancing D&I research through community engagement 2) willingness and ability to consider other’s perspectives, 3) willingness and ability to learn about community characteristics, 4) willingness and ability to assess effects of community attitudes towards research on a partnership, 5) willingness and ability to facilitate collaboration in a community partnership, 6) willingness and ability to adapt the research process to community needs and attitudes, 7) willingness and ability to communicate effectively with community partners, 8) willingness and ability to share resources and credit for research, and 9) willingness and ability to sustain a long-term partnership with community stakeholders. Researchers hope that this framework will be used to guide development of measures of readiness to conduct CEDI research.