Overview: This course will provide an overview of the emerging field of implementation science, which is the study of methods to promote the uptake of evidence-based practices and other research evidence in routine care settings in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of health care. Participants will be introduced to the types of research questions, theories, methods, designs, and ethical principles that guide the field. Case examples will focus on applications of implementation science in health and behavioral health, and the course will also draw upon the implementation challenges and opportunities faced by the course attendees. By the end of this course, participants will:
1) Understand the rationale for implementation science as a response to the “quality chasm” in health care, and be well-acquainted with the basic terminology of implementation science
2) Gain an understanding of the types of theories and conceptual frameworks that can inform implementation science
3) Learn about various barriers to the delivery of evidence-based care
4) Be knowledgeable about the range of implementation strategies available, the evidence-base that guides their use, and how they can be selected and tailored to overcome implementation barriers
5) Understand the conceptualization and measurement of implementation outcomes and how they differ from clinical and service system outcomes
6) Learn about the types of methods and designs that can be useful for implementation studies
7) Understand ethical considerations specific to implementation science
8) Be familiar with research priorities pertinent to implementation science as identified by federal and private funding agencies as well as leaders in the field
9) Obtain numerous resources for further reading as well as a list of opportunities for self-study and formal training in implementation science
Background: This introductory course will provide an overview of the emerging field of implementation science. Attendees will learn the major components of implementation research, and will have a chance to apply them in class and small group discussions. This course will equip attendees to begin posing relevant implementation research questions, and will give them the resources to begin designing and conducting rigorous implementation studies.
Format Requirements: The course will include a combination of didactic lectures, discussions, and small group exercises. Attendees should expect to actively engage in discussions about how the course topics apply to their clinical areas of interest. There are no prerequisites for the course.
Description and Objectives:
This course will provide an overview of the emerging field of implementation science, which is the study of methods to promote the uptake of evidence-based practices and other research evidence in routine care settings in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of health care. Participants will be introduced to the types of research questions, theories, methods, designs, and ethical principles that guide the field. Case examples will focus on applications of implementation science in health and behavioral health, and the course will also draw upon the implementation challenges and opportunities faced by the course attendees. By the end of this course, participants will:
1) Understand the rationale for implementation science as a response to the “quality chasm” in health care, and be well-acquainted with the basic terminology of implementation science
2) Gain an understanding of the types of theories and conceptual frameworks that can inform implementation science
3) Learn about various barriers to the delivery of evidence-based care
4) Be knowledgeable about the range of implementation strategies available, the evidence-base that guides their use, and how they can be selected and tailored to overcome implementation barriers
5) Understand the conceptualization and measurement of implementation outcomes and how they differ from clinical and service system outcomes
6) Learn about the types of methods and designs that can be useful for implementation studies
7) Understand ethical considerations specific to implementation science
8) Be familiar with research priorities pertinent to implementation science as identified by federal and private funding agencies as well as leaders in the field
9) Obtain numerous resources for further reading as well as a list of opportunities for self-study and formal training in implementation science
Course Directors:
Gregory Aarons, PhD
University of California, San Diego
Professor and Director, Child and Adolescent Services Research Center
Dr. Aarons is a clinical and organizational psychologist, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), a faculty member in the UCSD/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, Director of the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center (CASRC) and Co-Director of the Center for Organizational Research on Implementation and Leadership. Dr. Aarons' research, funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Centers for Disease Control, focuses on identifying and improving system, organizational, and individual factors that impact successful implementation and sustainment of evidence-based practices and quality of care in health care and public sector practice settings. Dr. Aarons is Principal Investigator of a recently completed NIMH-funded study of a statewide evidence-based practice implementation in the Oklahoma child welfare system and a CDC-funded study that developed a novel implementation approach that uses a collaborative process to support appropriate adaptation of evidence-based practice and system and organizational characteristics during implementation throughout the state of California. Dr. Aarons' current grants include an NIMH-funded project focusing on how to effectively implement an evidence-based HIV preventive intervention among high-risk women in Mexico, using an interagency collaborative approach to scaling up evidence-based practice across an entire service system, working across two states and 87 counties to examine the interaction of policy and organizational capacity factors in long-term sustainment of evidence-based practice, developing practical measures of organizational leadership and climate, and developing leadership and organizational change strategies to support evidence-based practice implementation. His most current work focuses on improving organizational context and training managers and supervisors to become effective leaders, to create a positive implementation climate, and to successfully lead evidence-based practice implementation in their teams and organizations. Other lines of inquiry involve understanding and improving implementation in low- and middle-income countries.
Byron Powell, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Assistant Professor
Byron J. Powell, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focuses on efforts to improve the quality of health, behavioral health, and social services. Specifically, his scholarship has focused on 1) identifying contextual barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based practices in routine care, 2) identifying and assessing the effectiveness of implementation strategies, 3) developing methods for tailoring implementation strategies to address determinants of effective implementation, and 4) advancing research methodology in implementation science. He is currently PI of an NIMH-funded study focused on developing and piloting the Collaborative Organizational Approach to Selecting and Tailoring Implementation Strategies (COAST-IS), an intervention that will help organizations to address context and EBP-specific determinants of implementation and sustainment (K01MH113806).
Byron has received NIH-funded fellowships from the Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (2015); Child, Intervention, Prevention, and Services Research Mentoring Network (2015-2016); and Implementation Research Institute (2016-2018). He serves on the editorial board of Implementation Science.
In addition to his independent and collaborative research, Byron teaches courses on implementation research and practice, and provides methodological consultation related to implementation research through the Community Engagement Core (CARES) of the North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS) and the Social and Behavioral Research Core of UNC’s Center for AIDS Research. He is also a Core Faculty Member of the UNC-RTI Consortium for Implementation Science.
