QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Garrett, J. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Garrett, J. L.

---

Symposium: From Efficacy Trial to Public Health Impact: Improving Delivery and Utilization of Nutrition Programs

Improving Results for Nutrition: A Commentary on an Agenda and the Need for Implementation Research^1,2

Research Fellow, The International Food Policy Research Institute,Washington, DC 20006

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.garrett{at}cgiar.org.

Research and implementation often exist in separate worlds. To improve results for nutrition, the nutrition research community needs to go beyond "what" works to understand "how" it works. If they do not, nutrition research risks becoming irrelevant to the needs of those who actually make policies and implement programs. Researchers must prioritize research on effectiveness of policies and programs. They should incorporate knowledge and tools of social sciences, including economics, sociology, political science, and management into their work. They should pay greater attention to environmental and institutional variables and understand change strategies, knowledge utilization, and policy processes. Fundamentally, research on implementation should use a systematic approach to produce generalizable evidence and conceptual models, tools, and methods that are communicated effectively to policymakers and programmers. Nutrition researchers need not expand far beyond their disciplinary comfort zone to do this, but they do need to build bridges with other fields to have greater success in addressing nutritional challenges.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. L. Leroy and P. Menon From Efficacy to Public Health Impact: A Call for Research on Program Delivery and Utilization in Nutrition J. Nutr., March 1, 2008; 138(3): 628 - 629. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]