Advances in bridging research and practice: introduction to the second special issue on the interactive system...

The need for new ways to bridge the gap between research and practice is clear; the use of evidence-based prevention programs and implementation with fidelity in practice are strikingly limited. The Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF) was created to help bridge research and practice by specifying the systems and processes required to support dissemination and implementation of evidence-based programs, processes, practices, and policies. The ISF identifies three key systems necessary for this process which include the Synthesis and Translation System, the Support System, and the Delivery System. The ISF was featured in a special issue of the American Journal of Community Psychology in 2008. This special issue extends that work by including both researchers who have applied an ISF lens to aspects of their current work and researchers who have proactively applied the ISF in a process that goes across the various systems of the ISF, i.e., Synthesis and Translation, Support, and Delivery. Content areas include: children's mental health, teen pregnancy prevention, HIV prevention, violence prevention, heart disease and stroke prevention, breast cancer prevention, and substance abuse prevention. In this introductory article, we provide a brief description of the history of the ISF and a summary of the articles in the special issue.