Implementation science is the study of methods and strategies to promote the adoption, implementation and sustained uptake of evidenced-based interventions into routine practice, with the aim of improving health outcomes and services. Within this relatively new field, implementation research stakeholders have highlighted a need for criteria that can be used to objectively assess the quality of implementation research.
Members of the KIS team collaborated on a project led by researchers at King’s College London to develop and evaluate a new tool designed to do just that: the Implementation Science Research Project Appraisal Criteria (ImpResPAC) tool.
The ImpResPAC quantitative tool is designed to evaluate the conceptual and methodological quality of implementation research, and is primarily intended to be used by grant reviewers and educators. The tool is based on the structure and content of the Implementation Science Research development (ImpRes) tool and supplementary guide, developed by the KIS team, which advises implementation research teams and practitioners working in healthcare on how to design high-quality implementation science research and projects.
Project aim
Dr Louise Hull, who supervised the research project, described its aims. “We wanted ImpResPAC to provide implementation research stakeholders, particularly grant reviewers and educators, with a comprehensive, transparent and fair appraisal of the conceptual and methodological quality of implementation research.
We hope the tool will increase the likelihood of funding high-quality implementation research that will generate knowledge and contribute to the advancement of the field and ultimately improve health outcomes and services,” she said.
How the study was conducted
The researchers carried out the project in three stages:
- Stage 1: the researchers mapped core elements of the ImpRes tool, guidance and recommendations contained in the supplementary guide and wider research literature, to ImpResPAC
- Stage 2: an international multidisciplinary group of experts helped to refine ImpResPAC, including the content, scoring system and user instructions
- Stage 3: the researchers carried out an extensive psychometric evaluation of ImpResPAC
The research team tested the effectiveness of the ImpResPAC tool by applying it to 50 research protocols published in the journal Implementation Science.
This research project was led by Chloe Sweetnam, a postgraduate researcher at The Kinetix Group. The team was made up of researchers at KIS (see below) as well as Dr Rachel Davis, senior research fellow and Dr Ioannis Bakolis, senior lecturer in biostatistics and epidemiology, both based at King’s College London.
