Streamlining Qualitative Research: Rapid Analysis Innovations in Expanding the Crisis Care Continuum Through...

Qualitative research is a valuable tool for implementing community-based interventions. Rapid analysis (RA) is an applied qualitative approach benefiting community-engaged implementation research by quickly obtaining and analyzing data for actionable results, without sacrificing scientific rigor. To provide technical assistance to four Kentucky communities to strengthen behavioral health crisis response systems, an RA approach was informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Science (CFIR), guiding the development of interview instruments, codebook, data organization, and dissemination of findings to both the internal team and back to the community. The Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment (EPIS) Framework was used to determine research focus for each community. Initial conversations (n = 109) were conducted to build rapport, followed by interviews and focus groups in iterative first round (n = 165), second round (n = 40), and third round (n = 95) to understand the behavioral health landscape in their communities. Through RA strategies, researchers were able to identify community's CFIR-guided themes and EPIS stages, including barriers and facilitators, to provide practical solutions for effective implementation in their contexts. Community presentations and weekly internal reports contributed to technical assistance tailored to the implementation stage. Specific RA-driven impacts included co-developing 202 A involuntary process flowcharts, analyzing 911 call narratives to improve behavioral health dispatch, and facilitating two behavioral health coalitions formation. This study found that using rapid analysis can enhance systems capacity, implementation support, and identify sustainable best practices directly informed by the community. As such, RA serves as an important innovation for implementation science, qualitative research, and building trust with community.