EBP dissemination strategies and barriers guide
Post the two dissemination strategies you would be most inclined to use and why, the ones you would be least inclined to use and why, at least two barriers you might meet with your preferred strategies, and how you would overcome them.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 12, 2026
What are you really choosing between?
This prompt has four moves and they are graded separately, so answer them as four rather than as one essay about disseminating evidence. The strategy menu is given in the brief: unit-level and organizational-level presentations, poster presentations, podium presentations at organizational, local, regional, state and national levels, and publication in peer-reviewed journals. Notice that the menu is arranged by reach and by formality, from a fifteen-minute in-service on your own unit to a journal article read by strangers years later. Choosing two you are most inclined to use is really a claim about audience and purpose, so say which audience you are trying to change and why that channel reaches it. A unit in-service changes practice next week on one floor; a journal article changes nothing next week and may change practice in places you never visit. Naming that trade-off in a sentence is usually enough to lift the first part of the post out of the generic.
The least-inclined half of the prompt is where posts go weak, because saying you dislike public speaking is a preference rather than an analysis. Give a reason that belongs to the strategy: podium presentations at national conferences demand travel funding and abstract lead times that a staff nurse rarely controls; peer-reviewed publication has a submission-to-print cycle measured in months and a rejection rate that makes it a poor vehicle for anything time-sensitive; poster sessions reach people who are already at the conference and already interested. Reasons like those show you understand what each channel costs and what it buys, which is the actual competence being assessed. It is also fair to say that a strategy you rank low is still the right one for a different purpose, and conceding that openly reads as judgement rather than avoidance. The prompt says strategies in the plural here, so name at least two rather than singling out one and moving on.
The barriers half must connect to the strategies you named, not to dissemination in general, and this is the requirement most often missed. If you chose unit-level presentation, the plausible barriers are release time and scheduling across shifts, competing priorities during the meeting you were given, and skepticism from experienced staff who have seen initiatives arrive and vanish. If you chose publication, the barriers are protected writing time, unfamiliarity with author guidelines, and the need for a mentor or writing partner. Then pair each barrier with a specific move: recording the session so nights and weekends can watch it, opening with local outcome data rather than the literature, or targeting a journal that publishes practice briefs. The brief also asks for examples, so give one concrete instance from your own setting rather than a generic illustration. A barrier you have actually run into carries the example requirement by itself and is far harder to write vaguely.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Answer all four parts of the prompt separately rather than as one essay.
- 02Justify preferred strategies by audience and purpose rather than by comfort.
- 03Explain least-preferred strategies in terms of what each channel costs and buys.
- 04Identify barriers specific to the strategies you actually chose.
- 05Pair each barrier with a concrete, named way of overcoming it.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01At least two dissemination strategies you are most inclined to use, with reasons.
- 02The strategies you are least inclined to use, with reasons.
- 03At least two barriers specific to your preferred strategies, with examples.
- 04A concrete way of overcoming each barrier.
How should barriers connect to your choices?
The two you would use
Name them and say which audience each reaches, on what timescale, and toward what change in practice.
The ones you would not
Explain the cost, lead time, or narrow reach that makes each a poor fit for your purpose, while conceding what it is good for.
Barriers, tied to your choices
Give at least two barriers that follow specifically from the strategies you chose, with a concrete example from your setting.
Overcoming them
Pair each barrier with a named move — recording the session, leading with local outcome data, finding a writing mentor, targeting a practice-brief journal.
Where is the dissemination evidence?
Recommended databases
- NCBI Bookshelf
- PubMed Central
- Course textbook
Search sequence
- 1.Read the evidence-based practice chapter for how findings move from project to practice change.
- 2.Check the assigned Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt chapters on outcomes, leadership, and implementation models.
- 3.Look at what a target journal actually publishes before claiming publication as a strategy.
- 4.Draft the four parts separately and confirm each barrier names one of your chosen strategies.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Nursing Management and Professional Concepts
Open RN, NCBI Bookshelf · 2022
The evidence-based practice and quality chapter covering how findings are communicated and adopted within an organization.
- 02
Patient Safety and Quality
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, NCBI Bookshelf · 2008
The documented barriers to translating evidence into bedside practice, which your barrier section should draw on.
- 03
PMC Home
PubMed Central, U.S. National Library of Medicine · 2024
The open-access route to checking what a target journal publishes before naming publication as a strategy.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Writing one essay about dissemination instead of answering the four parts.
- Justifying preferences by personal comfort rather than by audience and reach.
- Naming barriers to dissemination in general rather than to the strategies chosen.
- Offering solutions that restate the barrier — overcome resistance by reducing resistance.
- Skipping the examples the prompt explicitly requires.
- Treating peer-reviewed publication as automatically superior regardless of purpose.
Submission checklist
- Two or more preferred strategies, each with an audience and a reason.
- Least-preferred strategies explained by cost, lead time, or reach.
- Two or more barriers, each tied to a strategy you named.
- One concrete overcoming move per barrier.
- At least one specific example from your own setting.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.