Implementation Strategy Best Practices
Implementation Strategy Best Practices
What Are Implementation Strategy Best Practices?
The Implementation Strategy Best Practices project supports the uptake of evidence-based HIV services and interventions by disseminating effective implementation strategies. To achieve this, ISCI researchers created the Best Practices Tool, which is a list of criteria and an application process to identify high-quality replicable strategies.
Understanding the Best Practices Tool
The Best Practices Tool specifies evidence criteria to evaluate and recommend HIV-related implementation strategies for dissemination. The tool offers implementation researchers and practitioners a roadmap for successfully developing generalizable, effective strategies, ultimately improving health impact and paving the way for increased adoption, implementation, and sustainment of evidence-based HIV interventions. While there are similar tools for interventions more generally, this is the first established in any area of implementation science.
Experts in implementation science, quality improvement, and HIV services developed the tool in 2022 and 2023 using the Delphi method, and outlined its four evidence categories: Best, Promising, More Evidence Needed, and Non-recommended. A summary of each evidence level is listed below, with more detailed information on associated criteria available on the Best Practices Tool webpage.
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- Best Practice: Strategies that would be recommended for uptake in practice to address barriers in contexts where studied
- Promising: Strategies may be used for uptake in practice to address barriers in contexts where studied, but users should carefully monitor implementation outcomes to ensure strategies are having the intended effect
- More Evidence Needed: Additional scientific examination of these strategies is needed before recommendation for use in practice settings
- Non-recommended: Strategies would not be recommended for the barriers they are intended to address
Disseminating Best and Promising Implementation Strategies
ISCI researchers are currently applying the Best Practices Tool to systematic reviews to identify strategies that will support the most effective implementation of HIV interventions. For strategies rated Best Practice and Promising, ISCI is developing materials that will guide practitioners in applying them to different contexts and communities. The first strategy with completed materials available for use focuses on PrEP uptake.
Upcoming materials include replicable strategies from a systematic review of HIV testing. Check back throughout the upcoming months for updates as new strategies are added to this webpage.
Project Background
The Implementation Strategies Best Practices project began in 2022, when ISCI researchers noticed a gap in implementation research—there were no criteria to evaluate the quality of HIV-related implementation research and base recommendations to practitioners about implementation strategies likely to have the most impact. This led to the development of the Best Practices Tool and its application to 18 implementation strategies designed to promote the adoption and uptake of PrEP. Check out the project article to learn more about the development process and findings.
The development of the Implementation Strategy Best Practices project was made possible by funding from NIH. ISCI is funded by an administrative supplement to the Third Coast Center for AIDS Research, an NIH-funded center (P30 AI117943).
Article citation: McKay, Virginia R., alithia zamantakis, Ana Michaela Pachicano, James L. Merle, Morgan R. Purrier, McKenzie Swan, Dennis H. Li, et al. “Establishing Evidence Criteria for Implementation Strategies in the US: A Delphi Study for HIV Services.” Implementation Science 19, no. 1 (July 15, 2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-024-01379-3.