Digital Strategies for Research Dissemination: Reflections from the Obesity & Eating Disorders SIG

Isa Granados, PhD, MS; Leah Schumacher, PhD; Jacqueline Hayes, PhD, MA; Jennifer K. Frediani, PhD, RD; Gabrielle Hettie, MS - Obesity & Eating Disorders SIG

Digital dissemination is increasingly central to the reach and impact of behavioral medicine. Yet most researchers were trained to publish peer-reviewed papers and present at conferences, not to communicate findings to the public in real time. As a result, dissemination to those outside the research community can feel unfamiliar or like something that happens only after a project is complete.

Transparency in Science Builds Trust

Digital dissemination expands scientific reach to audiences who may never access journal articles — community partners, clinicians, educators, policy advocates, individuals with lived experience, and future collaborators in other subfields. Whether through LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram, podcasts, or newsletters, the goal is the same: to make research visible, understandable, and useful. We know that public trust in science, including behavioral medicine, is fragile. Transparency via digital dissemination is a key strategy for strengthening that trust. In particular conversations within the OED SIG highlight that dissemination can include not only polished results but also the scientific process (e.g. conceptual questions, early milestones, lessons learned, and methodological challenges).

Research on science communication supports this shift; when scientists share the realities of how research unfolds, it enhances relatability and public engagement.¹ This can look like sharing grant submission updates, recruitment challenges, IRB hurdles, team milestones, or behind-the-scenes lessons learned, all of which help humanize science and show the collaborative process. Sharing the realities of research, grant writing, navigating IRB revisions, adapting recruitment strategies, troubleshooting data systems, and celebrating incremental progress, humanizes science and demonstrates its rigor. Intemann (2023) argues that trust is built not by projecting certainty but by acknowledging complexity, uncertainty, and collaboration.¹ Digital dissemination provides opportunities to do exactly that.

Practical Starting Points

Practical approaches to begin sharing research digitally can be simple and authentic rather than highly produced. Researchers might translate a recent study into a brief, plain-language takeaway that explains why the findings matter for families, clinicians, or policy audiences; offer process-focused updates such as submitting or receiving a grant, completing data collection, or reaching a project milestone; spotlight trainees or collaborators to recognize the team-based nature of science; or amplify the work of colleagues by resharing their posts with a short note about how their research informs behavioral medicine. These types of posts shift dissemination from a performance mindset to one centered on connection, and helping others understand not just what we discover, but how we work together to advance the field.

Tools to Support the SBM Community

To equip members with practical skills, the OED SIG encourages use of the Society of Behavioral Medicine Science Communication Toolkit, which provides guidance on social media, op-eds, infographics, media engagement, and documenting the professional value of science communication.

References:

1. Intemann K. Science communication and public trust in science. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. 2023;48(2):350-365.