Articles

Assessing the Integrated Community-Based Health Systems Strengthening initiative in northern Togo: a pragmatic effectiveness-implementation study protocol

Over the past decade, prevalence of maternal and child morbidity and mortality in Togo, particularly in the northern regions, has remained high despite global progress. The causes of under-five child mortality...

Authors: Molly E. Lauria, Kevin P. Fiori, Heidi E. Jones, Sesso Gbeleou, Komlan Kenkou, Sibabe Agoro, Abdourahmane Diparidé Agbèrè, Kelly D. Lue and Lisa R. Hirschhorn

Capturing implementation knowledge: applying focused ethnography to study how implementers generate and manage knowledge in the scale-up of obesity prevention programs

Bespoke electronic information management systems are being used for large-scale implementation delivery of population health programs. They record sites reached, coordinate activity, and track target achievem...

Authors: Kathleen P. Conte, Abeera Shahid, Sisse Grøn, Victoria Loblay, Amanda Green, Christine Innes-Hughes, Andrew Milat, Lina Persson, Mandy Williams, Sarah Thackway, Jo Mitchell and Penelope Hawe

Facilitating action planning within audit and feedback interventions: a mixed-methods process evaluation of an action implementation toolbox in intensive care

Audit and feedback (A&F) is more effective if it facilitates action planning, but little is known about how best to do this. We developed an electronic A&F intervention with an action implementation toolbox to...

Authors: Wouter T. Gude, Marie-José Roos-Blom, Sabine N. van der Veer, Dave A. Dongelmans, Evert de Jonge, Niels Peek and Nicolette F. de Keizer

Correction to: A repeated cross-sectional study of clinicians’ use of psychotherapy techniques during 5 years of a system-wide effort to implement evidence-based practices in Philadelphia

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Authors: Rinad S. Beidas, Nathaniel J. Williams, Emily M. Becker-Haimes, Gregory A. Aarons, Frances K. Barg, Arthur C. Evans, Kamilah Jackson, David Jones, Trevor Hadley, Kimberly Hoagwood, Steven C. Marcus, Geoffrey Neimark, Ronnie M. Rubin, Sonja K. Schoenwald, Danielle R. Adams, Lucia M. Walsh…

Implementation of the uterine fibroids Option Grid patient decision aids across five organizational settings: a randomized stepped-wedge study protocol

Uterine fibroids are non-cancerous overgrowths of the smooth muscle in the uterus. As they grow, some cause problems such as heavy menstrual bleeding, pelvic pain, discomfort during sexual intercourse, and rar...

Authors: Peter Scalia, Marie-Anne Durand, Rachel C. Forcino, Danielle Schubbe, Paul J. Barr, Nancy O’Brien, A. James O’Malley, Tina Foster, Mary C. Politi, Shannon Laughlin-Tommaso, Erika Banks, Tessa Madden, Raymond M. Anchan, Johanna W. M. Aarts, Priscilla Velentgas, Joyce Balls-Berry…

Inclusion of a care bundle for fever, hyperglycaemia and swallow management in a National Audit for acute stroke: evidence of upscale and spread

In the Quality in Acute Stroke Care (QASC) trial undertaken in stroke units (SUs) located in New South Wales (NSW), Australia (2005–2010), facilitated implementation of a nurse-led care bundle to manage fever,...

Authors: Tara Purvis, Sandy Middleton, Louise E. Craig, Monique F. Kilkenny, Simeon Dale, Kelvin Hill, Catherine D’Este and Dominique A. Cadilhac

Implementing cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines to translate evidence-based medicine and shared decision making into general practice: theory-based intervention development, qualitative piloting and quantitative feasibility

The use of cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention guidelines based on absolute risk assessment is poor around the world, including Australia. Behavioural barriers amongst GPs and patients include capability (...

Authors: Carissa Bonner, Michael Anthony Fajardo, Jenny Doust, Kirsten McCaffery and Lyndal Trevena

The effect of a clinical decision support system on prompting an intervention for risky alcohol use in a primary care smoking cessation program: a cluster randomized trial

Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) may promote practitioner adherence to evidence-based guidelines. This study examined if the addition of a CDSS influenced practitioner delivery of a brief intervention...

Authors: Nadia Minian, Dolly Baliunas, Aliya Noormohamed, Laurie Zawertailo, Norman Giesbrecht, Christian S. Hendershot, Bernard Le Foll, Jürgen Rehm, Andriy V. Samokhvalov and Peter L. Selby

Understanding the influences on successful quality improvement in emergency general surgery: learning from the RCS Chole-QuIC project

Acute gallstone disease is the highest volume Emergency General Surgical presentation in the UK. Recent data indicate wide variations in the quality of care provided across the country, with national guidance ...

Authors: Timothy J. Stephens, Jonathan R. Bamber, Ian J. Beckingham, Ellie Duncan, Nial F. Quiney, John F. Abercrombie and Graham Martin

Spread tools: a systematic review of components, uptake, and effectiveness of quality improvement toolkits

The objective was to conduct a systematic review of toolkit evaluations intended to spread interventions to improve healthcare quality. We aimed to determine the components, uptake, and effectiveness of public...

Authors: Susanne Hempel, Claire O’Hanlon, Yee Wei Lim, Margie Danz, Jody Larkin and Lisa Rubenstein

Implementation interventions for musculoskeletal programs of care in the active military and barriers, facilitators, and outcomes of implementation: a scoping review

Musculoskeletal disorders are common in the active military and are associated with significant lost duty days and disability. Implementing programs of care to manage musculoskeletal disorders can be challengi...

Authors: Carol Cancelliere, Deborah Sutton, Pierre Côté, Simon D. French, Anne Taylor-Vaisey and Silvano A. Mior

Using a RE-AIM framework to identify promising practices in National Diabetes Prevention Program implementation

The National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) is rapidly expanding in an effort to help those at high risk of type 2 diabetes prevent or delay the disease. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control an...

Authors: Kunthea Nhim, Stephanie M. Gruss, Deborah S. Porterfield, Sara Jacobs, Wendi Elkins, Elizabeth T. Luman, Susan Van Aacken, Patricia Schumacher and Ann Albright

Designing high-quality implementation research: development, application, feasibility and preliminary evaluation of the implementation science research development (ImpRes) tool and guide

Designing implementation research can be a complex and daunting task, especially for applied health researchers who have not received specialist training in implementation science. We developed the Implementat...

Authors: Louise Hull, Lucy Goulding, Zarnie Khadjesari, Rachel Davis, Andy Healey, Ioannis Bakolis and Nick Sevdalis

Status and potential of bacterial genomics for public health practice: a scoping review

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is increasingly being translated into routine public health practice, affecting the surveillance and control of many pathogens. The purpose of this scoping review is to identif...

Authors: Nina Van Goethem, Tine Descamps, Brecht Devleesschauwer, Nancy H. C. Roosens, Nele A. M. Boon, Herman Van Oyen and Annie Robert

Implementation of simulation modelling to improve service planning in specialist orthopaedic and neurosurgical outpatient services

Advanced physiotherapist-led services have been embedded in specialist orthopaedic and neurosurgical outpatient departments across Queensland, Australia, to ameliorate capacity constraints. Simulation modellin...

Authors: Nicole Moretto, Tracy A. Comans, Angela T. Chang, Shaun P. O’Leary, Sonya Osborne, Hannah E. Carter, David Smith, Tania Cavanagh, Dean Blond and Maree Raymer

Implementation Science and Implementation Science Communications: our aims, scope, and reporting expectations

In the 13 years since the inception of Implementation Science, we have witnessed a continued rise in the number of submissions, reflecting the growing global interest in methods to enhance the uptake of research ...

Authors: Anne E. Sales, Paul M. Wilson, Michel Wensing, Gregory A. Aarons, Rebecca Armstrong, Signe Flottorp, Alison M. Hutchinson, Justin Presseau, Anne Rogers, Nick Sevdalis, Janet Squires, Sharon Straus and Bryan J. Weiner

Implementation effectiveness of health interventions for indigenous communities: a systematic review

Translating research into practice is an important issue for implementing health interventions effectively for Indigenous communities. He Pikinga Waiora (HPW) is a recent implementation framework that provides...

Authors: Truely Harding and John Oetzel

Impact of removal and restriction of me-too medicines in a hospital drug formulary on in- and outpatient drug prescriptions: interrupted time series design with comparison group

The study covered in- and out-of-hospital care in a region in north-western Spain. The intervention evaluated took the form of a change in the hospital drugs formulary. Before the intervention, the formulary c...

Authors: Raquel Vázquez-Mourelle, Eduardo Carracedo-Martínez and Adolfo Figueiras

In-depth comparison of two quality improvement collaboratives from different healthcare areas based on registry data—possible factors contributing to sustained improvement in outcomes beyond the project time

Quality improvement collaboratives (QICs) are widely used to improve healthcare, but there are few studies of long-term sustained improved outcomes, and inconsistent evidence about what factors contribute to s...

Authors: Beatrix Algurén, Annika Nordin, Boel Andersson-Gäre and Anette Peterson

What is full capacity protocol, and how is it implemented successfully?

Full capacity protocol (FCP) is an internationally recognized intervention designed to address emergency department (ED) crowding. Despite FCP international recognition and positive effects on hospital perform...

Authors: Amir Alishahi Tabriz, Sarah A. Birken, Christopher M. Shea, Bruce J. Fried and Peter Viccellio

Use of health economic evaluation in the implementation and improvement science fields—a systematic literature review

Economic evaluation can inform whether strategies designed to improve the quality of health care delivery and the uptake of evidence-based practices represent a cost-effective use of limited resources. We repo...

Authors: Sarah Louise Elin Roberts, Andy Healey and Nick Sevdalis

Proceedings from the 2nd Annual UK Implementation Science Research Conference, 'Advancing the science of scaling up: Improving efficiency and effectiveness of implementation strategies in healthcare': meeting abstracts

Authors:

Guideline-based quality indicators—a systematic comparison of German and international clinical practice guidelines

Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are relevant sources for generating quality indicators (QIs). The objective of this study was to compare guideline-based QIs of German and international CPGs ...

Authors: Monika Becker, Jessica Breuing, Monika Nothacker, Stefanie Deckert, Marie Brombach, Jochen Schmitt, Edmund Neugebauer and Dawid Pieper

To do or not to do—balancing governance and professional autonomy to abandon low-value practices: a study protocol

Many interventions used in health care lack evidence of effectiveness and may be unnecessary or even cause harm, and should therefore be de-implemented. Lists of such ineffective, low-value practices are commo...

Authors: Henna Hasson, Per Nilsen, Hanna Augustsson, Sara Ingvarsson, Sara Korlén and Ulrica von Thiele Schwarz

Disseminating and implementing a lifestyle-based healthy weight program for mothers in a national organization: a study protocol for a cluster randomized trial

Excessive weight gain among young adult women age 18–45 years is an alarming and overlooked trend that must be addressed to reverse the epidemics of obesity and chronic disease. During this vulnerable period, ...

Authors: Rachel G. Tabak, Cynthia D. Schwarz, Allison Kemner, Kenneth B. Schechtman, Karen Steger-May, Veronda Byrth and Debra Haire-Joshu

A repeated cross-sectional study of clinicians’ use of psychotherapy techniques during 5 years of a system-wide effort to implement evidence-based practices in Philadelphia

Little work investigates the effect of behavioral health system efforts to increase use of evidence-based practices or how organizational characteristics moderate the effect of these efforts. The objective of ...

Authors: Rinad S. Beidas, Nathaniel J. Williams, Emily M. Becker-Haimes, Gregory A. Aarons, Frances K. Barg, Arthur C. Evans, Kamilah Jackson, David Jones, Trevor Hadley, Kimberly Hoagwood, Steven C. Marcus, Geoffrey Neimark, Ronnie M. Rubin, Sonja K. Schoenwald, Danielle R. Adams, Lucia M. Walsh…

Training in Implementation Practice Leadership (TRIPLE): evaluation of a novel practice change strategy in behavioral health organizations

Effective leadership for organizational change is critical to the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs). As organizational leaders in behavioral health organizations often are promoted from within ...

Authors: Enola Proctor, Alex T. Ramsey, Matthew T. Brown, Sara Malone, Cole Hooley and Virginia McKay

Scaling Up Safer Birth Bundle Through Quality Improvement in Nepal (SUSTAIN)—a stepped wedge cluster randomized controlled trial in public hospitals

Each year, 2.2 million intrapartum-related deaths (intrapartum stillbirths and first day neonatal deaths) occur worldwide with 99% of them taking place in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the accelera...

Authors: Rejina Gurung, Anjani Kumar Jha, Susheel Pyakurel, Abhishek Gurung, Helena Litorp, Johan Wrammert, Bijay Kumar Jha, Prajwal Paudel, Syed Moshfiqur Rahman, Honey Malla, Srijana Sharma, Manish Gautam, Jorgen Erland Linde, Md Moinuddin, Uwe Ewald, Mats Målqvist…

Investigating midwives’ barriers and facilitators to multiple health promotion practice behaviours: a qualitative study using the theoretical domains framework

In addition to their more traditional clinical role, midwives are expected to perform various health promotion practice behaviours (HePPBes) such as informing pregnant women about the benefits of physical acti...

Authors: Julie M. McLellan, Ronan E. O’Carroll, Helen Cheyne and Stephan U. Dombrowski

The clinician crowdsourcing challenge: using participatory design to seed implementation strategies

In healthcare settings, system and organization leaders often control the selection and design of implementation strategies even though frontline workers may have the most intimate understanding of the care de...

Authors: Rebecca E. Stewart, Nathaniel Williams, Y. Vivian Byeon, Alison Buttenheim, Sriram Sridharan, Kelly Zentgraf, David T. Jones, Katelin Hoskins, Molly Candon and Rinad S. Beidas

Improving HIV service delivery for people who inject drugs in Kazakhstan: study protocol for the Bridge stepped-wedge trial

People who inject drugs (PWID) in Kazakhstan face many barriers to HIV testing as well as to accessing HIV care, to retention in HIV care, and to initiating and adhering to anti-retroviral treatment (ART). Nee...

Authors: Tara McCrimmon, Louisa Gilbert, Timothy Hunt, Assel Terlikbayeva, Elwin Wu, Meruyert Darisheva, Sholpan Primbetova, Azamat Kuskulov, Alissa Davis, Anindita Dasgupta, Bruce R. Schackman, Lisa R. Metsch, Daniel J. Feaster, Baurzhan Baiserkin and Nabila El-Bassel

What is the impact of large-scale implementation of stroke Early Supported Discharge? A mixed methods realist evaluation study protocol

Stroke Early Supported Discharge (ESD) is a service innovation that facilitates discharge from hospital and delivery of specialist rehabilitation in patients’ homes. There is currently widespread implementatio...

Authors: Rebecca Fisher, Niki Chouliara, Adrian Byrne, Sarah Lewis, Peter Langhorne, Thompson Robinson, Justin Waring, Claudia Geue, Alex Hoffman, Lizz Paley, Anthony Rudd and Marion Walker

Testing an implementation strategy bundle on adoption and sustainability of evidence to optimize physical function in community-dwelling disabled and older adults in a Medicaid waiver: a multi-site pragmatic hybrid type III protocol

In partnership with a state Medicaid home and community-based waiver program, this study tests implementation strategies for adoption and sustainability of an evidence-based intervention to support disabled an...

Authors: Sandra L. Spoelstra, Monica Schueller and Alla Sikorskii

Correction to: Addressing challenges in scaling up TB and HIV treatment integration in rural primary healthcare clinics in South Africa (SUTHI): a cluster randomized controlled trial protocol

Following publication of the original article [1], the authors reported an error in the wording of the study hypothesis. The error occurs in the Aims and Objectives sub-section of the Methods section and is hi...

Authors: Kogieleum Naidoo, Santhanalakshmi Gengiah, Nonhlanhla Yende-Zuma, Nesri Padayatchi, Pierre Barker, Andrew Nunn, Priashni Subrayen and Salim S. Abdool Karim

The FRAME: an expanded framework for reporting adaptations and modifications to evidence-based interventions

This paper describes the process and results of a refinement of a framework to characterize modifications to interventions. The original version did not fully capture several aspects of modification and adapta...

Authors: Shannon Wiltsey Stirman, Ana A. Baumann and Christopher J. Miller

Evidence-based intervention sustainability strategies: a systematic review

Sustainability of evidence-based interventions (EBI) remains a challenge for public health community-based institutions. The conceptual definition of sustainment is not universally agreed upon by researchers a...

Authors: Maji Hailemariam, Tatiana Bustos, Barrett Montgomery, Rolando Barajas, Luther B. Evans and Amy Drahota

Variation in the operationalisation of dose in implementation of health promotion interventions: insights and recommendations from a scoping review

While ‘dose’ is broadly understood as the ‘amount’ of an intervention, there is considerable variation in how this concept is defined. How we conceptualise, and subsequently measure, the dose of interventions ...

Authors: Samantha Rowbotham, Kathleen Conte and Penelope Hawe

Improving care for elderly patients living with polypharmacy: protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized trial in community-based primary care practices in Canada

Elders living with polypharmacy may be taking medications that do not benefit them. Polypharmacy can be associated with elevated risks of poor health, reduced quality of life, high care costs, and persistently...

Authors: M. Greiver, S. Dahrouge, P. O’Brien, D. Manca, M. T. Lussier, J. Wang, F. Burge, M. Grandy, A. Singer, M. Twohig, R. Moineddin, S. Kalia, B. Aliarzadeh, N. Ivers, S. Garies, J. P. Turner…

The influence of a blended, theoretically-informed pre-implementation strategy on school-based clinician implementation of an evidence-based trauma intervention

Individual-level implementation determinants, such as clinician attitudes, commonly influence the successful adoption of evidence-based practices, but few explicit strategies have been tested with regard to th...

Authors: Aaron R. Lyon, Clayton R. Cook, Mylien T. Duong, Semret Nicodimos, Michael D. Pullmann, Stephanie K. Brewer, Larissa M. Gaias and Shanon Cox

Using a continuum of hybrid effectiveness-implementation studies to put research-tested colorectal screening interventions into practice

Few previous studies have applied the hybrid effectiveness-implementation design framework to illustrate the way in which an intervention was progressively implemented and evaluated across multiple studies in ...

Authors: Beverly B. Green, Gloria D. Coronado, Malaika Schwartz, Jen Coury and Laura-Mae Baldwin

Attributes of context relevant to healthcare professionals’ use of research evidence in clinical practice: a multi-study analysis

To increase the likelihood of successful implementation of evidence-based practices, researchers, knowledge users, and healthcare professionals must consider aspects of context that promote and hinder implemen...

Authors: Janet E. Squires, Laura D. Aloisio, Jeremy M. Grimshaw, Kainat Bashir, Kristin Dorrance, Mary Coughlin, Alison M. Hutchinson, Jill Francis, Susan Michie, Anne Sales, Jamie Brehaut, Janet Curran, Noah Ivers, John Lavis, Thomas Noseworthy, Jocelyn Vine…

Implementation of change in health care in Sweden: a qualitative study of professionals’ change responses

Implementation of evidence-based practices in health care implies change. Understanding health care professionals’ change responses may be critical for facilitating implementation to achieve an evidence-based ...

Authors: Per Nilsen, Kristina Schildmeijer, Carin Ericsson, Ida Seing and Sarah Birken

How do researchers conceptualize and plan for the sustainability of their NIH R01 implementation projects?

Inadequate sustainability of implementation of evidence-based interventions has led to calls for research on how sustainability can be optimized. To advance our understanding of intervention sustainability, we...

Authors: Alekhya Mascarenhas Johnson, Julia E. Moore, David A. Chambers, Jennifer Rup, Camellia Dinyarian and Sharon E. Straus

Physician-reported barriers to using evidence-based recommendations for low back pain in clinical practice: a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies using the Theoretical Domains Framework

Adoption of low back pain guidelines is a well-documented problem. Information to guide the development of behaviour change interventions is needed. The review is the first to synthesise the evidence regarding...

Authors: Amanda M. Hall, Samantha R. Scurrey, Andrea E. Pike, Charlotte Albury, Helen L. Richmond, James Matthews, Elaine Toomey, Jill A. Hayden and Holly Etchegary

Implementation facilitation to promote emergency department-initiated buprenorphine for opioid use disorder: protocol for a hybrid type III effectiveness-implementation study (Project ED HEALTH)

Patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) frequently present to the emergency department (ED) after overdose, or seeking treatment for general medical conditions, their addiction, withdrawal symptoms, or complic...

Authors: Gail D’Onofrio, E. Jennifer Edelman, Kathryn F. Hawk, Michael V. Pantalon, Marek C. Chawarski, Patricia H. Owens, Shara H. Martel, Paul VanVeldhuisen, Neal Oden, Sean M. Murphy, Kristen Huntley, Patrick G. O’Connor and David A. Fiellin

Barriers and facilitators to the successful development, implementation and evaluation of care bundles in acute care in hospital: a scoping review

Care bundles are small sets of evidence-based recommendations, designed to support the implementation of evidence-based best clinical practice. However, there is variation in the design and implementation of c...

Authors: D. Gilhooly, S. A. Green, C. McCann, N. Black and S. R. Moonesinghe

A method to reduce imbalance for site-level randomized stepped wedge implementation trial designs

Controlled implementation trials often randomize the intervention at the site level, enrolling relatively few sites (e.g., 6–20) compared to trials that randomize by subject. Trials with few sites carry a subs...

Authors: Robert A. Lew, Christopher J. Miller, Bo Kim, Hongsheng Wu, Kelly Stolzmann and Mark S. Bauer

A novel counterbalanced implementation study design: methodological description and application to implementation research

Implementation research is increasingly being recognised for optimising the outcomes of clinical practice. Frequently, the benefits of new evidence are not implemented due to the difficulties applying traditio...

Authors: Mitchell N. Sarkies, Elizabeth H. Skinner, Kelly-Ann Bowles, Meg E. Morris, Cylie Williams, Lisa O’Brien, Anne Bardoel, Jenny Martin, Anne E. Holland, Leeanne Carey, Jennifer White and Terry P. Haines

How was research engaged with and used in the development of 131 policy documents? Findings and measurement implications from a mixed methods study

Much has been written about the use of evidence in policy; however, there is still little known about whether and how research is engaged with and used in policy development or the impact of reported barriers ...

Authors: Anna Williamson, Steve R. Makkar and Sally Redman

Choosing implementation strategies to address contextual barriers: diversity in recommendations and future directions

A fundamental challenge of implementation is identifying contextual determinants (i.e., barriers and facilitators) and determining which implementation strategies will address them. Numerous conceptual framewo...

Authors: Thomas J. Waltz, Byron J. Powell, María E. Fernández, Brenton Abadie and Laura J. Damschroder