Refining contextual inquiry to maximize generalizability and accelerate the implementation process.

Area of Science:

• Implementation science
• Behavioral health services research
• Health services research

Background:

• Contextual inquiry is vital for understanding behavioral health evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation settings.
• Current methods are often single-setting or single-EBP, taking 1-2 years.
• Cross-sector and cross-EBP contextual inquiry is needed for generalizability and efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To advocate for streamlined approaches to contextual inquiry in behavioral health.
• To reduce the time and resource burden of identifying implementation determinants.
• To accelerate the research-to-practice translation for behavioral health interventions.

Main Methods:

• Proposing collaborative research to identify cross-setting and cross-EBP implementation determinants.
• Advocating for enhanced synthesis of existing research to avoid duplication.
• Emphasizing the need for clear rationale before conducting new contextual inquiry.
• Balancing scientific rigor with the need for speed in research.

Main Results:

• Identified the need for collaborative, multi-setting, and multi-EBP contextual inquiry.
• Highlighted the importance of synthesizing existing knowledge on implementation barriers and facilitators.
• Proposed strategies to expedite the identification of determinants crucial for scaling interventions.

Conclusions:

• Consolidating and sharing knowledge on implementation barriers and facilitators is essential.
• Streamlined contextual inquiry prepares for scaling needed implementation strategies and interventions.
• Faster translation of research to practice improves access to high-quality behavioral health services.