Practising what we preach? A practical approach to bringing research, policy and practice together in relation to children and health inequalities

This paper explores the need for better links between research and practice in relation to work with children and health inequalities. Despite continuing discussion about the need to improve dissemination of research activity in general, study of this area remains largely neglected. As a result, despite the rhetoric, the research and practice gap continues to exist. An attempt to remedy this was undertaken through the support of a user fellowship as part of the UK Economic and Social Research Council Health Variations Programme. The paper describes a number of activities that were undertaken during the fellowship, and discusses the implications of these for improving connections and minimizing the research and practice ‘gap’. It argues that a need exists for researchers to develop innovative dissemination strategies and suggests that potential exists for an interactive model of dissemination. Such a model implies a more active role for users of research in the shaping of research agendas.