Shifting toward healthy and sustainable diets: How to optimise evidence use for policy and practice
Appendix B: Communication and Dissemination Mechanisms table
This is a table of popular evidence communication and dissemination mechanisms, along with their challenges, benefits and target audiences.
Rows are marked to signify effective, non-effective, partially-effective or undetermined (based on available literature).
Table 8: Mechanisms for Evidence Communication and Dissemination
| Mechanism | Description | Challenges | Benefits | Target audience | Effectiveness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Briefs (non-effective) | “A concise standalone document that prioritises a specific policy issue and presents the evidence in a non-technical and jargon-free language; in general, the purpose is to distil or synthesise evidence with the intention of influencing thinking and actions of policy actors” | Clarity and maintaining concise messaging; Bias; Comprehension and unpredictable knowledge base of audience |
Relevant and salient (often commissioned); Easy comprehension; Direct engagement on specific topic |
Policymakers, third-sector practitioners, think tanks, corporate executives | Largely ineffective for addressing institutional/ structural barriers |
| Blogs and social media (partially effective) | Quick summaries and highlights of key findings from scientific research, written colloquially | Clarity and maintaining concise messaging; Credibility and bias; Relevance and salience |
Open-access; Easy comprehension; Convenient |
Policymakers, decision-makers, practitioners, public | Effective for reaching a wide audience and building awareness; Unclear/mixed for influence on policy/ practice |
| Conferences and Seminars (non-effective) | Formal oral and (sometimes) visual presentations (in person and virtual) of evidence to a group | Engagement; Clarity and maintaining concise messaging; Comprehension and unpredictable knowledge base of audience |
Common venue; Often funded; Recognition |
Policymakers, practitioners, public | Ineffective for influencing policy and practice |
| Data visualisation (effective) | Using design principles to communicate complex information (for example, graphs, charts, icons, etc.) | Clarity; Balancing complexity while being concise; Bias |
Easy comprehension; Engaging; Accessible |
Policymakers, practitioners | Highly effective when done well |
| Toolkits (partially effective) | Practical guides/ handbooks on possible ways to adopt and implement evidence | Clarity; Coverage; Relevance and usefulness |
Easy comprehension; Practical to adopt | Policymakers, practitioners | Moderately effective when tailored to audience needs |
Source: Authors informed by Balian et al. (2016); Breckon & Dodson (2016)
Revision log
Published: 18 October 2022
Last updated: 23 October 2023