Thesis (BA Communication Arts) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2018

Health research becomes futile when it is not utilized by its target users. Health research findings have to be disseminated to the research community, especially among Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in order to share scientific knowledge and provide awareness on existing discoveries to other researches. Knowledge exchange among HEIs leads to research collaborations which could further refine researches and enhance capabilities and resources of researchers. Considering regional Health Research and Development Consortium (RHRDC) XI?s previous communication gaps, tis study aims to develop a communication strategy to disseminate health researches to HEIs under the consortium. In crafting the communication strategy, this study evaluates RHRDC XI?s previous strategies to disseminate health researches as well as RHRDC XI?s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in terms of research dissemination. The study also looks into institutions? assessment of RHRDC XI's communication efforts in disseminating researches, their motivations in participating in RHRDC XI and its programs and activities, and institutions? motivations in adopting health researches. Key Informant Interview with RHRDC XI staff, SWOT analysis, communication audit, and in-depth interview with representatives from HEIs were employed to gather the data. In general, the results show that some HEIs lack the knowledge and capability in conducting health research, which makes them less motivated to participate in the activities of RHRDC XI where research dissemination efforts are centered. The results also show that the previous efforts of RHRDC XI do not reach all of its member institutions. Lastly, lack of resources and facilitates hinder the further development of researches, which is why there is a need to disseminate researches to other HEIs for research collaborations.