Enhancing the SUSTAINable uptake of evidence to minimise harms from alcohol and other drugs in New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

Although alcohol and other drug use is increasingly the focus of policy and research efforts, there are challenges identifying and applying evidence‐based strategies to minimise harms for alcohol and other drugs in health care and community settings. These challenges include limited available research, variability across settings, and lack of ‘fit’ between research evidence and their intended settings. In this commentary, we describe a novel approach to develop and evaluate tailored, sustainable strategies to enhance the uptake of evidence‐based activities into health services and community settings. Our approach involves four key principles: (i) identifying evidence‐based alcohol and other drug harm minimisation strategies; (ii) partnering with local experts to identify and tailor strategies; (iii) implementing strategies into existing practice/infrastructure to build in sustainability; and (iv) using sustainable co‐designed outcome measures including value‐based health‐care principles to measure uptake, feasibility and acceptability, health outcomes and economic implications. We propose that this approach offers a way forward to enhance the relevance and suitability of research in health services and community settings and has potential to be applied in other sectors.