Happenings: Off the Shelves and Into the Streets

Abstract

There is a firmly established tradition within nursing research on clinical phenomena that recognizes that what we learn through our inquiries might have relevance not only for the scholarly and practice communities but for all those affected. In the case of chronicity, we fully recognize that persons with chronic diseases and their loved ones may find many of our conclusions immensely interesting, empowering, and even therapeutic. Sadly, the pressures of academic life and our traditional understanding of what constitutes a credible research portfolio often take precedence over our inherent sense of what might be the most appropriate way of disseminating the knowledge we develop. While it has become relatively common in grant proposals to profess an interest in creative dissemination approaches such as publishing our findings in a daily newspaper, writing a column for a women's magazine, or arranging to be interviewed on talk shows, far too few dedicated researchers put such lofty ideas into practice (Stoddard, 1997).