Primary care practice-based research is well positioned to address clinically relevant research questions that can inform real-world practice. However, many practices lack the infrastructure or readiness to participate in research. This study developed and evaluated the Practice Assessment for Research Readiness (PAR2), a survey tool designed to assess research readiness in healthcare systems and community-based primary care practices, including family medicine, pediatrics, and internal medicine.

The PAR2 survey was developed through partner engagement, adapting prior organizational survey questions, and pilot testing. Six Subscales included: Perceived Value of Research, Capacity for Change, Change Commitment, Change Efficacy, Task Knowledge, and Resource Availability. Cronbach’s alphas and composite reliabilities were calculated to assess internal consistency reliability of each subscale. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess structural validity.

A total of 249 participants from 50 primary care practices completed the PAR2 survey. The internal consistency reliability of each subscale was high (alpha and CR >0.7) except for the Capacity for Change subscale (CR = 0.77 but alpha = 0.69), which improved (alpha and CR = 0.82) after removing one question due to its low item-total correlation. The scales also showed good structural validity after minor modifications.

The PAR2 survey provides a practice-level research specific measure that can be used to align practices with studies suited to their readiness, potentially improving recruitment, reducing attrition and guiding capacity-building interventions.

To examine the use of vitamin D supplements during infancy among the participants in an international infant feeding trial.

Longitudinal study.

Information about vitamin D supplementation was collected through a validated FFQ at the age of 2 weeks and monthly between the ages of 1 month and 6 months.

Infants (n 2159) with a biological family member affected by type 1 diabetes and with increased human leucocyte antigen-conferred susceptibility to type 1 diabetes from twelve European countries, the USA, Canada and Australia.

Daily use of vitamin D supplements was common during the first 6 months of life in Northern and Central Europe (>80 % of the infants), with somewhat lower rates observed in Southern Europe (>60 %). In Canada, vitamin D supplementation was more common among exclusively breast-fed than other infants (e.g. 71 % v. 44 % at 6 months of age). Less than 2 % of infants in the USA and Australia received any vitamin D supplementation. Higher gestational age, older maternal age and longer maternal education were study-wide associated with greater use of vitamin D supplements.

Most of the infants received vitamin D supplements during the first 6 months of life in the European countries, whereas in Canada only half and in the USA and Australia very few were given supplementation.