Approaches for front-line organizations to implement evidence-based interventions

Key take-home messages

• Helping community-based organizations (CBOs) find and use research evidence for the development of programs, services and advocacy is only part of the process of supporting evidence-informed front-line programs and services as there is also a need to determine how to implement and scale-up the findings into practice.
• The articles we identified for this rapid response focused on the approach to supporting the implementation of evidence-based interventions through the Diffusion of Effective Behavioural Intervention (DEBI) program from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States.
• The foundation of the DEBI program is that evidence-based interventions are a necessary component of the programming for CBOs and other service provision organizations. After the CDC identifies evidence-based interventions, they are packaged into the Replicating Effective Programs (REP) project and then disseminated through the Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) project.
• As part of the broader DEBI program, the Mpowerment Project Technology Exchange System (MPTES) was designed for the specific purpose for helping CBOs implement interventions from the Mpowerment project. This process has been recently profiled and evaluated through interviews and pilot tests with CBOs. A series of ‘lessons learned’ from this process are outlined. In general, the CBOs involved in the project overall gave positive feedback about the MPTES but many expressed the need for it to include greater focus on diversity issues, include descriptions of how the intervention has been implemented by others and provide guidance about the ways in which the intervention can be adapted for different populations.

• Population(s)
  • Other
• Health Systems
  • Delivery arrangements