What happens to University of Hertfordshire DClinPsy research? A survey exploring community dissemination & barriers that prevent this

Abstract

Historically, the dissemination of research findings across many disciplines has been limited to peer reviewed journals. More recently, dissemination practices are broadening to include sharing with wider audiences, such as the community being researched. At the University of Hertfordshire some doctoral clinical psychology trainees disseminate more widely than others. Research has not yet asked what helps support trainees on the programme to disseminate their work beyond scientific publication, or what barriers disrupt this. This programme-related project utilised a mixed methods survey which aimed to gain an understanding of barriers to community dissemination practices and how these could be overcome. Results indicated that, although participants strongly agreed that findings should be shared with communities researched, barriers to delivering this exist. The identified barriers to community dissemination included time and limited awareness of community dissemination practices. Further support from supervisors and teaching on wider dissemination practices may help trainees to disseminate more widely. This is important as it could move dissemination outside of the academic community where findings could reach those who could benefit most from them.