title: An Overview of Research and Evaluation Designs for Dissemination and Implementation.
abstract: The wide variety of dissemination and implementation designs now being used to evaluate and improve health systems and outcomes warrants review of the scope, features, and limitations of these designs. This article is one product of a design workgroup that was formed in 2013 by the National Institutes of Health to address dissemination and implementation research, and whose members represented diverse methodologic backgrounds, content focus areas, and health sectors. These experts integrated their collective knowledge on dissemination and implementation designs with searches of published evaluations strategies. This article emphasizes randomized and nonrandomized designs for the traditional translational research continuum or pipeline, which builds on existing efficacy and effectiveness trials to examine how one or more evidence-based clinical/prevention interventions are adopted, scaled up, and sustained in community or service delivery systems. We also mention other designs, including hybrid designs that combine effectiveness and implementation research, quality improvement designs for local knowledge, and designs that use simulation modeling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois 60611; email: hendricks.brown@northwestern.edu.
authors.forename: C Hendricks
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Services Research, Psychiatric Research Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205; email: currangeoffreym@uams.edu.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.affiliation: Department of Children, Youth and Families, School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089; email: palinkas@usc.edu.
authors.forename: Lawrence A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Palinkas
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, La Jolla, California 92093; email: gaarons@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Aarons
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Services and Society, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024; email: KWells@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Kenneth B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.affiliation: Healthy African American Families, Los Angeles, California 90008; email: lorettajones@haafii.org.
authors.forename: Loretta
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: The Methodology Center and Department of Human Development & Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802; email: lmcollins@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Linda M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027; email: naihuaduan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Naihua
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: VA Center for Implementation Practice and Research Support, Virginia Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, North Hills, California 91343; email: Brian.Mittman@va.gov.
authors.forename: Brian S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Mittman
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242; email: andrea-wallace@uiowa.edu.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center, George Warren Brown School, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63105; email: rtabak@wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Rachel G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Tabak
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20814; email: lori.ducharme@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ducharme
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland 20850; email: dchamber@mail.nih.gov , netagil@mail.nih.gov.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Chambers
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland 20850; email: dchamber@mail.nih.gov , netagil@mail.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Gila
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Neta
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20814; email: wileytr@nida.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Tisha
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wiley
authors.affiliation: Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, Oregon 97401; email: jlandsverk@aol.com.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Landsverk
authors.affiliation: Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032; email: kencheung2@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois 60611; email: hendricks.brown@northwestern.edu.|Department of Health Policy and Management, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514; email: gcruden@live.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Gracelyn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cruden
mesh_terms: D002985:Clinical Protocols; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012107:Research Design
keywords: adaptation; adoption; fidelity; implementation trial; scale up; sustainment