MLTC research dissemination: Exploration of how the public receive, understand and engage with MLTC prevention research

Patients and the public are rarely consulted on how to best share research about preventing multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs)—conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and depression that often occur together. This project will comb through academic and non-academic evidence to find out how researchers currently involve the public in spreading MLTC prevention findings, and what works. The problem is straightforward: even when prevention research yields clear results, those findings often sit in journals rather than reaching the people who could act on them. Without public input, dissemination can miss the mark—using jargon, the wrong channels, or ignoring what communities actually need to hear. If this work succeeds, it will produce a co-produced framework—a practical guide—for researchers to follow when sharing MLTC prevention research. That could change how public health messages are designed and delivered, making them more relevant and actionable. The impact here is on the communications infrastructure that quietly shapes whether people hear about, understand, and act on prevention advice. Better dissemination could help more people avoid developing multiple long-term conditions in the first place.