A social marketing approach to implementing evidence-based practice in VHA QUERI: the TIDES depression collaborative care model

Abstract

Collaborative care models for depression in primary care are effective and cost-effective, but difficult to spread to new sites. Translating Initiatives for Depression into Effective Solutions (TIDES) is an initiative to promote evidence-based collaborative care in the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Social marketing applies marketing techniques to promote positive behavior change. Described in this paper, TIDES used a social marketing approach to foster national spread of collaborative care models.TIDES social marketing approachThe approach relied on a sequential model of behavior change and explicit attention to audience segmentation. Segments included VHA national leadership, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) regional leadership, facility managers, frontline providers, and veterans. TIDES communications, materials and messages targeted each segment, guided by an overall marketing plan.ResultsDepression collaborative care based on the TIDES model was adopted by VHA as part of the new Primary Care Mental Health Initiative and associated policies. It is currently in use in more than 50 primary care practices across the United States, and continues to spread, suggesting success for its social marketing-based dissemination strategy.Discussion and conclusionDevelopment, execution and evaluation of the TIDES marketing effort shows that social marketing is a promising approach for promoting implementation of evidence-based interventions in integrated healthcare systems.

Multimethod Evaluation of the VA’s Peer-to-Peer Toolkit for Patient-Centered Medical Home Implementation

“…[10][11][12] Toolkit staff created a brand logo, sent e-brochures to distribution lists of collaborative participants, and e-mailed periodic updates to a Toolkit users' listserv. They also gave presentations to VA opinion leaders and demonstrated the Toolkit at each regional collaborative.…”

Avengers Assemble! Using pop-culture icons to communicate science

“…In this sense, the broader public includes all nonscientists, be they adults or children in the K-12 system. It is my goal that by sharing these experiences and approaches, like-minded academics and teachers at all stages of their career-including undergraduate and graduate trainees-may be encouraged to integrate popular culture touchstones in their own outreach and teaching practices (24) as has been suggested for social marketing theory in health promotion (7). As Marshall McLuhan (1911McLuhan ( -1980, Canadian philosopher of communication theory, wrote, "the medium is the message" (10).…”

How Can the Use of Evidence in Mental Health Policy Be Increased? A Systematic Review

“…A small group of nine data analyst-manager dyads was used in one study (32), and three management or service delivery teams within a mental health organization took part in another (36). The scale of several studies was unclear, but the participants involved were mental health organizations (number unspecified) and segments of the Veterans Health Administration (sample size unspecified) (33). The policies or decision makers relevant to the majority of identified studies (five of nine studies) operated at a regional level (29,32,35,36,38).…”