title: Implementation of integrated care for type 2 diabetes: a protocol for mixed methods research.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While integrated care for diabetes mellitus type 2 has achieved good results in terms of intermediate clinical and process outcomes, the evidence-based knowledge on its implementation is scarce, and insights generalisable to other settings therefore remain limited.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study protocol provides a description of the design and methodology of a mixed methods study on the implementation of integrated care for type 2 diabetes. The aim of the proposed research is to investigate the mechanisms by which and the context in which integrated care for type 2 diabetes has been implemented, which outcomes have been achieved and how the context and mechanisms have affected the outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  This article describes a convergent parallel mixed methods research design, including a systematic literature review on the implementation of integrated care for type 2 diabetes as well as a case study on two Dutch best practices on integrated care for type 2 diabetes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The implementation of integrated care for diabetes type 2 is an under-researched area. Insights from this study could be applied to other settings as well as other chronic conditions to strengthen the evidence on the implementation of integrated care.
authors.affiliation: Department of TRANZO, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Loraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Busetto
authors.affiliation: Elderly Care, Department of TRANZO, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Katrien Ger
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Luijkx
authors.affiliation: Health Systems & Policy, National University Singapore.
authors.forename: Hubertus Johannes Maria
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Vrijhoef
keywords: chronic care model; disease management; implementation; integrated care; mixed methods; type 2 diabetes