Moving from Implementation Science to Implementation Practice: The Need to Solve Practical Problems to Improve Behavioral Health Services

Conceptualizing Implementation Practice Capacity in Community-Based Organizations Delivering Evidence-Based Behavioral Health Services

“…These strategies and frameworks provide some direction related to mechanisms that are involved with utilizing an EBP in the field (Birken et al, 2017). However, much of the emphasis in the field of implementation science has been focused on the importance of understanding theory and research and less on the practical implications associated with how CBOs and practitioners can utilize these strategies in real-world settings (Vroom & Massey, 2021). Implementation practice can be defined as the use of implementation mechanisms and activities informed by research, and used by knowledgeable individuals, to facilitate the adoption, implementation, and sustainment of an evidence-based practice, model, or approach.…”

“…Implementation practice can be defined as the use of implementation mechanisms and activities informed by research, and used by knowledgeable individuals, to facilitate the adoption, implementation, and sustainment of an evidence-based practice, model, or approach. The aim of implementation practice is to solve practical problems, through practitioners and their organizations, to improve service outcomes (Vroom & Massey, 2021).…”

“…In addition, the current trends in implementation science research are significantly motivated by what funding is available. This may result in EBPs and implementation science approaches being developed with highly theoretical, fixed protocols, that may be detached from consumers (i.e., practitioners and service organizations) and fail to consider the dynamic nature of behavioral health services (Lyon et al, 2016;Vroom & Massey, 2021). This poses the problem of having a product (i.e., implementation strategy) that disregards real-world barriers, that is mistakenly used, and/or cannot be replicated (Birken et al, 2017;Proctor et al, 2013;Vroom & Massey, 2021).…”

“…This may result in EBPs and implementation science approaches being developed with highly theoretical, fixed protocols, that may be detached from consumers (i.e., practitioners and service organizations) and fail to consider the dynamic nature of behavioral health services (Lyon et al, 2016;Vroom & Massey, 2021). This poses the problem of having a product (i.e., implementation strategy) that disregards real-world barriers, that is mistakenly used, and/or cannot be replicated (Birken et al, 2017;Proctor et al, 2013;Vroom & Massey, 2021). Future research efforts aimed at providing more structure to the notion of implementation practice and capacity building should consider incorporating stakeholder feedback to ensure relevancy.…”

“…CBOs offer important avenues for effective EBP dissemination given their influence on health and capacity to stimulate participation on behalf of the community in behavioral health care (Ramanadhan et al, 2012). Despite this, initial attempts at disseminating EBPs have experienced barriers that may have emerged from "top-down" methods used by researchers and the academic community to propel EBP utilization into community settings (Vroom & Massey, 2021). Research has indicated that simply providing training for community behavioral health clinicians in an EBP is not enough to warrant successful outcomes.…”