Table 1 Questions posed by individuals providing advice and challenges that are common in DIRC consultations
From: Building capacity for dissemination and implementation research: one university’s experience
Domain | Key questions | Potential challenges |
|---|---|---|
1. Main interest/research question(s) | What are you seeking to accomplish? Test a prevention strategy or treatment Implement an evidence-based intervention Disseminate a new intervention/treatment | Too many questions for one study Not a D&I study |
2. Background | Have you conducted a study prior on the program/policy/treatment/intervention? Efficacy Effectiveness Service system Organizational context Treatment/intervention adaptation Early phase D&I study Scale-up potential training | Little efficacy/effectiveness data on intervention |
2. Evidence-based intervention to be implemented | Is the evidence for the program, treatment, or set of services to be implemented demonstrated? | The intervention may not have been proved/tested |
3. Care, burden, or quality gap | What is the quality gap in your program of research/in the study that you are proposing? | The quality gap has not been well documented The prevented fraction has not been estimated |
4. Setting | 1. Who are consumers/patients/clients/stakeholders? 2. Who are the key stakeholders in the implementation and how are they engaged in the proposed study? 3. Who are the providers? What is their level of exposure, training to the intervention of interest? What are the training possibilities? Training challenges? 4. How universal or generalizable is the setting of delivery? (e.g., part of a national system, or network?) | Lack of data on organizational level providers Multilevel interventions many involve many different providers |
5. Study design | 1. How would you describe the study design? Observation of a naturally occurring implementation/dissemination plan to introduce (manipulate) something new (using an implementation or dissemination strategy, comparing the effectiveness of two implementation strategies) 2. What methods will you use? Quantitative only Qualitative only Mixed methods | No local expertise on qualitative methods |
6. Conceptual model and theoretical justification | Do you have a clear conceptual framework/theory/model that informs the design and variables being tested? Does your conceptual model frame your evaluation? | Little to no knowledge about conceptual models |
7. Outcomes | What outcomes are you thinking about evaluating? | Reliable and valid methods for measuring outcomes do not exist |
8. Strategies | What are the strategies you are thinking about using to implement the intervention? | Lack of data on effective strategies |