Strategies for leading the implementation of evidence-based practices

Many mental health authority and program administrators would like to implement behavioral health practices that have been demonstrated to be effective. Leading practice implementation involves promoting behavior change in health care providers. Reviews of the general medical literature on practice change conclude that education alone has little impact on practitioner behavior and that intensive, multifaceted interventions that attend to local circumstances have the greatest likelihood of affecting change. This article briefly reviews the literature on health care practice change and offers some strategy suggestions for administrators who are leading evidence-based practice implementation initiatives.