Leveraging the science of implementation: the case for specialized mental health community supervision BMC Global and Public Health Springer Nature Link

Furthermore, narrative reviews do https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/26809/chapter/5 not involve the stringent selection and appraisal criteria characteristic of systematic reviews. Grants that partner with industry, such as NIH Small Business Innovation Research grants, are critical in acknowledging that MH researchers will likely not also be experts in app design; such mechanisms can allow the strengths of both academia and industry to shine through (Hidalgo-Mazzei et al. 2020). Grants take years from initial conception to publication of findings, and traditional RCTs require the innovation to remain static for the duration of the study period. Additional research is needed to determine whether the number of log-ins, clicks, or modules completed may be more appropriate metrics of sustained use (Bakker et al. 2016; Donkin et al. 2011; Hermes et al. 2019; Mohr et al. 2019). Further research is needed to determine how best to facilitate use via these more personalized and adaptive strategies.

mental health implementation science

However, as we argued above, implementation research requires outcomes that are conceptually and empirically distinct from those of service and clinical effectiveness. The framework distinguishes between three distinct but interrelated types of outcomes—implementation, service, and client outcomes. Our understanding of implementation outcomes is lodged within a previously published conceptual framework (Proctor et al. 2009) as shown in Fig. When such efforts fail, as they often do, it is important to know if the failure occurred because the intervention was ineffective in the new setting (intervention failure), or if a good intervention was deployed incorrectly (implementation failure). A critical yet unresolved issue in the field of implementation science is how to conceptualize and evaluate success.

About this article

mental health implementation science

Essock et al. (2003) have identified stakeholder concerns about EBP that impede implementation. Qualitative studies have documented barriers and stakeholders’ attitudes toward EBP (Baydar et al. 2003; Corrigan et al. 2001; Ferlie and Shortell 2001). Finally of course, at the bottom level, the key role of individual behavior in implementation must be addressed. Implementation research has a long history in policy research, where most studies take a “top-down” (Van Meter and Van Horn 1975) or a “bottom-up” (Linder and Peters 1987) perspective. This model points to hierarchical levels ranging from what Greenhalgh and colleagues would characterize as the outer context (interorganizational) through the inner context (organizational) to the actual practice setting where providers and consumers interact.

mental health implementation science

Women in Leadership Development

mental health implementation science

It responds to an evident gap in quantitative implementation measurement and methodology in the field. It remains unclear how these results will “offer guidance to investigators planning to measure implementation”. Central output is a list of implementation outcome measures. The Delphi panel smaller than recommended and does not really appear representative.

  • The demand for mental health services stimulated community stakeholder engagement, increasing the relevance, acceptability, and efficiency of mental health services and mobilizing multisectoral stakeholders and resources to improve access to, and quality of, mental health services.
  • Yet, knowing about these entrenched beliefs or ways of seeing the world will help us to know how perhaps we can provide information that will facilitate change even in the face of opposing mental models.
  • Despite the obvious success of these techniques in attracting and maintaining users, they are absent from many MH apps.
  • When agencies decide to adopt specialized mental health community supervision, it is typically because there is an organizational or system issue that needs to be addressed through evidence-based interventions.

Together, these concepts represented determinants of mental health implementation and services outcomes across levels of the ISF (Table 1 and Figure 1). Community trust in the mental health system, including providers and interventions,34,52 and mechanisms to ensure accountability (e.g., monitoring, evaluation, and health information systems)34,55 improved the quality of mental health services. Other processes, including coordination,10,61 training and career development opportunities for staff,10 and engagement and collaboration among traditional healers, medical providers, governments, and service users,10,42,50 facilitated access and implementation of mental health services. Sustainability of mental health services is defined as continued delivery and behavior change that is maintained beyond the initial period of implementation and continues to produce benefits for patients, communities, and health systems.15 Although sustainable mental health services may evolve over time to meet changing local needs and resources, they ultimately continue to be delivered and benefit the community and system within which these services are implemented. This part of the Handbook includes several chapters by leading experts who address this timely issue by reviewing various models, frameworks, and approaches for optimizing implementation and increasing the reach of school mental health programs.