The CORE (Consensus on Relevant Elements) Approach to Determining Initial Core Components of an Innovation.

Area of Science:

• Implementation Science
• Intervention Development
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Identifying core intervention components is crucial for fidelity and modification assessment.
• The initial stage of identifying core components lacks standardized methodology.
• This gap can lead to variability in the rigor of core component identification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate the CORE (Consensus on Relevant Elements) approach for identifying initial core intervention components.
• To address the need for a systematic process in defining essential intervention elements, especially for innovative interventions.
• To apply the CORE approach to a specific intervention for military veterans.

Main Methods:

• The CORE approach involves a multi-step consensus-building process with intervention developers and implementers.
• The study involved four developers/implementers and two moderators, with two iterations of the CORE steps.
• Steps included individual suggestions, definition consolidation, and group discussion for consensus.

Main Results:

• The CORE approach successfully reduced 60 initial suggestions to 18 consensus-reached core components for a peer-based veteran reintegration intervention.
• Components were removed if their absence did not threaten intervention effectiveness.
• This demonstrates the utility of CORE in synthesizing expert knowledge to define essential intervention elements.

Conclusions:

• The CORE approach offers a concrete, step-by-step method to identify initial core intervention components.
• It fills a critical gap in intervention development and implementation science.
• Further research should explore CORE's applicability across diverse interventions and settings.