The Journey After the Journal: Dissemination & Implementation

From the Desk of Dr. Quist Ryder is a space for APF’s CEO to share insights on the state of psychology, APF initiatives, and how philanthropy can help translate psychological knowledge into real-world impact.

In this blog post, APF CEO Dr. Michelle Quist Ryder and Program Officer Dr. Rebecca Pasillas discuss the importance of dissemination and implementation (D&I) in psychology, and how APF Direct Action helps ensure that psychological research reaches those it is meant to serve. When evidence-based, rigorous psychological science reaches people and communities, it has the power to achieve its greatest impact.

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The Research to Real-World Gap: Insights from Dr. Quist Ryder

My team has heard me say this more than once: psychology is very good at generating insight about how to help people…and much less reliable at getting that help to the people who need it most.

Researchers are working tirelessly. New theories and interventions are developed, tested, refined. And then, too often, they stay put. Published in journals, cited in future studies, or paused after promising pilot results, without ever fully making the transition into real-world practice.

This isn’t a failure of effort. It’s a structural gap.

Our field still tends to reward publication more than long-term impact. The “publish or perish” culture has undeniably advanced knowledge, but it has also created a system where too many promising solutions stall just before they can actually improve people’s lives.

The cost of that gap isn’t abstract. It shows up in communities that go without support that could make a difference. In urgent needs that remain unmet. And in a field that continues to generate answers it doesn’t always have a pathway to use.

This is where dissemination and implementation, D&I for short, shows up as the hero of the moment.

D&I is, at its core, about what happens next. It focuses on how research moves beyond journals, labs, and pilot studies into the places where people actually live, work, and receive care. It asks not only whether something works, but how it can be shared, adapted, and sustained in real-world conditions.

If psychology is going to reach its full potential, research can’t stop at publication. It has to be carried forward, thoughtfully, responsibly, and intentionally, into practice.

That’s the thinking behind APF’s Direct Action initiative: supporting innovative, psychologically grounded interventions designed not just to generate knowledge, but to create meaningful, real-world impact.

Implementing Responsibly

The thing is, moving research into real-world settings is not as simple as scaling what worked in a controlled study. It requires care, caution, and an ongoing commitment to scientific integrity.

Interventions need to be grounded in evidence, sure, but just as importantly, they need to be applied thoughtfully. When we move too quickly, or without sufficient validation, even well-intentioned efforts can do harm.

This is where an important distinction comes into focus: the difference between evidence-based and evidence-informed approaches. Both are motivated by a desire to help. But they carry different implications for risk, ethics, and long-term outcomes. Evidence-based interventions have been rigorously tested and validated across contexts. Evidence-informed approaches draw on promising findings but have not yet undergone that same level of scrutiny. This distinction matters, especially when interventions are touching real people in real communities.

Research doesn’t end when a study is published. If anything, that’s where a different kind of work begins. As interventions move into practice, they need to be continually evaluated, adapted, and refined in response to changing conditions and new data. Validation studies, replication efforts, and continuous feedback loops aren’t just nice-to-haves, they are a cornerstone of responsible implementation.

At APF, this commitment to strong science and thoughtful application is central to our Direct Action work. We’re not only interested in whether an intervention is innovative, we’re focused on whether it can be delivered ethically, effectively, and sustainably in the real world.

To explore what this looks like in practice, I’ll turn it over to APF’s Program Officer, Dr. Rebecca Pasillas, who brings deep expertise in implementation science and works closely with researchers and practitioners translating evidence into action.

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Common D&I Challenges: Insights from Dr. Rebecca Pasillas

As APF’s Program Officer, and as a clinical psychologist that was part of a national team that disseminated and implemented an evidence-based psychosocial intervention across clinical settings within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, I’ve seen firsthand how challenging it can be to move research into real world practice. Many researchers are deeply committed to helping communities through their work. At the same time, translating research findings into practice or applied settings is complex, especially when considering different contexts, cultures, systems, and other factors. 

For evidence-based interventions to reach communities, they must become part of routine behavioral and mental health care. This is where dissemination and implementation (D&I) science steps in. 

At its core, D&I Science studies the methods and strategies that support the effective implementation and long-term sustainability of evidence-based interventions across diverse settings. This, in turn, ensures that high-quality behavioral and mental health care reaches the communities that need it most, especially given that many of these communities still lack access to evidence-based interventions.

Successful dissemination and implementation require more than strong evidence alone. They depend on a strong understanding of the cultural context, structures, and systems in place, as well as meaningful collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and the communities being served. These contextual factors can make or break whether an evidence-based intervention will be adopted and sustained in real-world practice and clinical settings.

For interventions to have a lasting impact, they must be built on trust, collaboration, and shared goals with everyone involved in the process. In fact, this is the framing behind APF’s Direct Action programs – prioritizing projects designed to support impactful dissemination and implementation, along with accessible sharing of resources.

Equity & Centering Communities
It is also important to acknowledge that many communities, particularly marginalized communities, have been historically harmed by research. These harms have been widely documented, and include instances such as research participation without informed consent, exposure to unethical research practices, exclusion from decision-making processes that impact them directly, and lack of access to interventions that could greatly benefit them. 

Because of this history, it is absolutely essential that community members are active in the D&I process; not just as participants, but as collaborators and partners. Increasingly, the field is shifting toward approaches that center community perspectives and experiences within clinical and applied settings. This means involving community members consistently throughout the process and maintaining ongoing dialogue to ensure that interventions remain aligned with their needs.

In D&I efforts, the voices of community members should be central in shaping the interventions and the strategies used to implement them. Their insights help ensure that approaches are practical, relevant, culturally responsive, and meaningful. Additionally, developing a dissemination plan that incorporates community input is a key part of this process. The dissemination plan informs and explains the successful implementation outcomes and shares this information with community members and partners (e.g., practitioners, local organizations, committees, etc.) in ways that are ethical and accessible.

Ongoing evaluation of both the intervention and dissemination strategies is equally important, and can determine an intervention’s long-term success. Researchers have engaged communities in the evaluation processes in a variety of ways – some examples include forming community advisory boards (that are actively engaged in the implementation process, and not waiting for tasks to be given to them), hosting regular community input sessions, conducting focus groups to gather specific feedback throughout the process, and collaborating with local organizations and partners. Together, these efforts help ensure that D&I projects are culturally appropriate, feasible, and aligned with the community’s needs and priorities. 

Centering community partnership is key in APF Direct Action, which prioritizes projects that work with communities and not just for them. The recipients of our Direct Action Visionary Grants center communities in various ways: 

• Dr. Kiara Alvarez’s project enhances the Paloma Program, which is a community health worker (CHW)-delivered psychosocial intervention for immigrant Spanish-speaking parents of Latine youth with suicidal ideation and/or behavior, by addressing the impact of immigration-related stressors on family stress and coping. A partnership with a community advisory board comprised of community members was established to provide input about various aspects about the intervention.
• Dr. Beth Turetsky focuses on the Trans Mentor Project (TMP), an innovative, evidence‑based program designed as an accessible, scalable intervention to increase the resilience and wellbeing of Transgender and Non-binary (TNB) young people nationwide. Informal feedback from program participants is gathered in addition to formal, structured community engagement such as a participatory research group, an advisory board, and a member committee that include community members being served by the project.
• Dr. Amy Lee’s project entails the task-shifting of the delivery of a brief, skills-focused intervention for caregivers served by STRONG Youth, a local community-based organization specializing in youth, gang, and gun violence prevention and intervention. Most of STRONG staff are members of the community with lived experiences and are actively involved through implementation and sustainability of the project.

We are already seeing encouraging signs of impact from these projects that prioritize community-centered, equitable dissemination and implementation. We’re excited about what more is to come with these projects and future Direct Action initiatives!

Sustainable Impact & De-Implementation

While we’ve been focusing on centering community members and partners throughout a project, it’s equally important to consider what happens after a project ends. Ensuring that communities experience lasting benefits from the work they have contributed to, and maintaining relationships beyond the life of a project, are critical parts of responsible research.

The relationships between researchers and communities need to be reciprocal. Much of this work is done when reaching out to community members and partners, and starting a collaboration on a project. Clearly communicating the scope of the work, including its goals and limitations, helps establish a shared understanding from the beginning. Sustaining these relationships over time may also involve connecting community partners with additional opportunities and resources, or serving as a bridge to other initiatives that support community priorities.

Another key part of sustaining a positive working relationship with communities is to fully close the loop between the research process and impact of findings. Developing a sustainability plan that outlines actions to take during and after the implementation process can help ensure that interventions remain accessible, and therefore, makes the greatest impact to the community. These actions may include sharing findings, offering trainings and resources to local leadership, making results accessible to community members, and ensuring continuation of resources and services.

Science is an ongoing process, and another important consideration is de-implementation of interventions. As the field evolves and the world changes, interventions may need to be refined or discontinued, especially if they harm communities or provide little or no benefit. It is a strength to be able to identify when it is time to adjust or stop an intervention, or to recognize if a different solution is needed. This both reduces harm to the communities being served, and maximizes the quality of behavioral and mental health care in communities. Examining what strategies support the de-implementation of low-value care ensures that these efforts are done responsibly, ethically, and have a sustainable long-term impact without causing harm. 

At APF, we want to ensure that communities are prioritized when evidence-based interventions are designed and evaluated in order for successful dissemination and implementation of the intervention in real world settings.

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Closing the Loop & Directing Your Action: Final Thoughts with Dr. Quist Ryder
Ultimately, it’s crucial that we remember that research is the first step, not the final one. Psychology has extraordinary potential to change lives, but only when its insights reach the people who need them. For that potential to be realized, findings must be thoughtfully disseminated, carefully implemented, and sustained over time. 

As Dr. Pasillas discusses above, dissemination and implementation help close the loop between scientific discovery and real-world impact, but they require care, equity, and a genuine commitment to centering the communities involved.

They also require a willingness to adapt. Responsible implementation isn’t just about scaling what works; it’s about continually asking whether something is still working, for whom, and under what conditions, and being willing to evolve, or even step back, when the answer changes.

Through APF’s Direct Action initiative, we are investing in efforts that bring psychological science into communities in ways that are ethical, evidence-driven, and responsive to real-world needs.

And the demand for this initiative is clear. In 2025 alone, APF received more than 1,200 letters of intent for Direct Action funding – an unmistakable signal that researchers and practitioners are ready to move this work forward.

Supporting dissemination and implementation is how we ensure that psychology reaches its fullest potential. Not just as a body of knowledge, but as a force for meaningful, measurable impact.

If this work resonates with you, we invite you to Direct your Action with us. There are so many ways to engage with initiatives, and we hope that you’ll join us in advancing the next phase of psychological science.

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