Science of Implementation in Health and Healthcare – SIHH
The Science of Implementation in Health and Healthcare (SIHH) Study Section reviews applications that identify, develop, and evaluate dissemination and implementation theories, strategies and methods designed to integrate evidence-based health interventions into public health, clinical, and community settings. Applications reviewed in SIHH should have a major methods, strategy, or theoretical development component in implementation science in order to understand how interventions are implemented and measure implementation outcomes in public health, clinical, and community settings. Studies that test effectiveness of evidence-based interventions with a focus on evaluating intervention outcomes rather than implementation outcomes (e.g., testing of specific implementation strategies) are reviewed in other study sections. Additionally, applications proposing basic science, pre-clinical, or clinical research perspectives are reviewed in other study sections.
Review Dates
Topics
- Studies that focus on the testing of theories, models and conceptual frameworks for dissemination and implementation processes and outcomes (e.g. feasibility, fidelity, penetration, acceptability, sustainability, uptake, and costs) with approaches that emphasize resources of local care settings and the needs of multiple stakeholders (i.e. people or organizations who have an interest in the research project or are affected by its outcomes).
- Studies to examine the organization, adoption and integration of efforts to implement evidence-based practices, mobile health (mHealth) applications or platforms, or guidelines into practice for health care providers, patients, organizations, and communities.
- Studies to explore innovative approaches to identify, understand and develop strategies for overcoming barriers to the adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up, and sustainability of evidence-based interventions, tools, policies, and guidelines.
- Studies to understand circumstances that create a need to stop or reduce (“de-implement”) the use of interventions that are ineffective, unproven, low-value, or harmful.
- Studies that examine the integration of multiple evidence-based interventions in order to create an evidence-based system of care.
- Studies to explore strategies to impact organizational structure, climate, culture, and processes to enable dissemination and implementation of clinical/public health information and effective clinical/public health interventions.
- Studies to develop advance dissemination and implementation science measures and methods that assess the ability of an approach to move evidence into practice in various settings.
Shared Interests and Overlaps
SIHH reviews applications where the primary objective is to assess the impact of an implementation strategy on outcomes like adoption, fidelity, and sustainability, often referred to as Type 3 hybrids (although clinical outcomes associated with the implementation strategy may also be assessed). SIHH also reviews Type 2 hybrids which have a balance between effectiveness and implementation aims, specifically where the studies are comparing different implementation strategies. Type 2 hybrids employing a single implementation strategy are reviewed in other sections. Applications where the primary focus is on testing the effectiveness of a clinical intervention with a secondary focus on understanding the implementation strategies (Type 1 hybrid design) are reviewed in other study sections.
SIHH and Organization and Delivery of Health Services (ODHS) have shared interests in dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices in health systems. Applications that emphasize dissemination and implementation processes and outcomes within health systems (providers and health care organizations) are reviewed in SIHH. Applications that emphasize the organization and delivery of health services and examine health outcomes at the system level are reviewed in ODHS.
SIHH and Health Services: Quality and Effectiveness (HSQE) have shared interests in dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices in health systems. Applications that emphasize the dissemination and implementation processes and outcomes related to implementation of evidence-based practices, guidelines, and interventions with health care providers and organizations are reviewed in SIHH. Applications that emphasize the receipt of services, health care quality and effectiveness and individual-/patient- and population-level health outcomes are reviewed in HSQE.
SIHH and Health Promotion in Communities (HPC) have shared interests in community or local environmental characteristics affecting intervention uptake, and both may utilize approaches that engage with relevant community stakeholders and end users. Applications that emphasize the testing of implementation and dissemination theories, models and conceptual frameworks in community settings and relevant implementation outcomes (such as feasibility, fidelity, penetration, acceptability, sustainability, uptake and costs) are reviewed in SIHH. Applications that emphasize efficacy and effectiveness of community-level interventions on health outcomes are reviewed in HPC.
SIHH and Clinical Informatics and Digital Health (CIDH) have shared interests in the use of informatics technology for clinical decision support. Applications that emphasize implementation strategies to adopt or integrate mHealth or clinical support tools are reviewed in SIHH. Applications that emphasize the development of informatics systems or examine the human-machine interface are reviewed in CIDH.
