Factors associated with primary care dissemination and implementation concordance for chronic pain

Background Chronic pain affects millions of people worldwide and is most often managed by primary care practitioners (PCPs). It is essential that PCPs receive timely access to updates in chronic pain implementation support to put these changes into practice. The purpose of this analysis was to explore the effect of individual characteristics and clinic context on the concordance between dissemination approaches and preferred implementation strategies for chronic pain management among PCPs. Methods This cross-sectional study included a secondary analysis of a survey of Pennsylvania PCPs. Dissemination and implementation strategy concordance were defined as the degree to which there was agreement between PCP reported preferences for dissemination and implementation strategies and reality. We used multiple linear regression models, with covariates including demographic characteristics, urbanicity, and academic affiliation to identify factors associated with concordance. Results This survey of 101 Pennsylvania PCPs identified factors associated with dissemination concordance in bivariable analyses included gender, profession, and days per week in clinic, while and implementation concordance was associated with gender, days per week in clinic, and years of experience. Dissemination concordance was significantly lower for women than for men after controlling for other factors, (0.15; β = −0.24, p < 0.05). Implementation concordance was significantly associated with increased years of experience (0.01; β = 0.34, p < 0.01) in the final multivariable models. Conclusion Clinician perspectives are critical for improving implementation. We demonstrate a method to better understand these perspectives and the factors associated with concordance between preferred and received dissemination and implementation support. This work can offer a more implementer-centered approach to identifying strategies for dissemination and implementation.