Course Learning Objectives
This course explores the current literature on implementation science; introduces strategies for using innovative scientific methods and tools of diverse disciplines to understand and overcome impediments to implementation and facilitate scale-up; and uses applied case studies to identify and contextualize implementation successes and failures. At the end of this course the student should be able to:
- Identify the major factors that limit the translation of high-quality evidence into effective health programs and describe the role of complementary implementation science research methods in the development of evidence-based health programs and policies.
- Explain appropriate research and evaluation methods to overcome impediments to implementation and facilitate timely scale-up of proven interventions with high levels of fidelity and effectiveness.
- Contextualize and explain real-world examples where sound interventions failed or succeeded.
- Describe at least one framework for designing successful implementation strategies and apply the framework to a real-world health problem.
Module Learning Objectives
Module 1: Introduction to Implementation Science (IS) and IS Data Sources
- Describe why implementation science is important to global health.
- Summarize a framework for using implementation science to facilitate the translation of knowledge to successful program implementation.
- Recognize the value of core systems of information collection to monitor disease and health programs.
- Identify barriers to implementing robust health information systems.
Module 2: Impact Evaluation and IS Study Designs
- Describe common impact evaluation methods and study designs used to evaluate the effects of programs at scale.
- Distinguish between internal validity and external validity, and describe the importance of external validity within implementation science.
- Recognize the importance of impact evaluations in the design of public health policies.
Module 3: Economic Evaluation
- Provide an overview of different economic evaluation methods.
- Provide an overview of how to conduct a cost-effectiveness evaluation.
Module 4: Qualitative Health System Research
- Identify qualitative data collection methods and sampling approaches, and describe their implications for analysis and interpretation of data in implementation science studies.
- Identify how qualitative research design and methods can be developed to maximize rigor, validity, and reliability of findings in implementation studies.
- Describe the benefits and limitations of mixing qualitative and quantitative methods in operational and implementation science study designs.
Module 5: Organizational Readiness
- Explain the theory behind and importance of organizational readiness.
Module 6: Quality Improvement as a Management Tool
- Define Plan – Do –Study – Act cycles and how they can be used in continuous quality improvement.
- Demonstrate how quality improvement can be used to facilitate broad scale-up of health programs.
Module 7: Stakeholder and Policy Analysis
- Describe the stages of policy development and how empirical information can be used at each stage.
- Identify and map key stakeholders in a policy issue.
Module 8: Dissemination Research
- Familiarize yourself with implementation science frameworks for dissemination of evidence-based health promotion practices.
- Discuss the need for dissemination research and describe the roles that researchers play in dissemination.
Module 9: Social Marketing of Implementation Strategies
- Explain the process of developing an effective social marketing strategy.
- Assess the incremental value of social marketing strategies in health program development and execution.
Module 10: Operations Research as a Contributing Discipline
- Identify basic lean implementation and its application to healthcare settings: waste and time, value steam mapping, process improvement/Kaizen.
- Recognize other potential applications of modeling for operations research.
- Identify appropriate implementation science methods and strategies to develop and implement successful, large-scale public health programs.