Research and Practice-based Evidence
Research Findings |
In the intervention strategies, an Evidence table will walk you through what the research tells us for that particular strategy:
- whether has been effective in changing behavior;
- whether it has been effective in influencing knowledge, skills, support, environments, policies or other intermediate factors;
- what settings and populations have been addressed;
- what resources have been used; and
- what challenges have been encountered.
Be cautious when using the Evidence table to understand the research evidence. This table is not able to help you determine whether one intervention strategy is more effective than another strategy for the following reasons:
- Some intervention strategies are relatively new and there is not enough evidence to suggest whether the strategy is effective.
- Some intervention strategies may be more effective for different populations and evaluation in these different settings or for different populations has not yet occurred.
- Some intervention strategies have been used as one part of a larger intervention study, and, while findings for the entire study indicate that the intervention works, it is difficult to know whether any one specific strategy is effective.
In order to develop the Evidence table for each intervention strategy, research findings are abstracted according to the following components:
- Study Design: whether an experimental design, other research design or no research design was used.
- Methods and Measures: whether both quantitative and qualitative methods and measures, quantitative methods and measures, qualitative methods and measures or no measures were used.
- Evaluation Types: whether process, impact and or outcome evaluation was conducted.
- Theoretical Foundation: whether or not a theoretical framework was used to develop the intervention.
- Ecological Framework: whether approaches addressed multiple ecological levels, a single ecological levels or none at all.
- Replication: whether the intervention had been replicated and had consistent findings across studies, replicated with inconsistent findings or not replicated.
- Application to Multiple Settings: whether the intervention had taken place in more than one setting or not.
- Application to Multiple Populations: whether the intervention has been implemented with more than one population or not.
- Outcome of Interest Assessed: whether or not changes in the outcome of interest were assessed (e.g., tobacco use, physical activity).
- Intermediate Outcomes Assessed: whether or not changes in intermediate outcomes were assessed (e.g., knowledge, attitudes, social support, policy change).
- Association: whether the associations assessed changes in outcomes or intermediate outcomes) supported the intervention, did not support the intervention, were neutral or not reported.
Practice Findings
When deciding on intervention strategies, it is important to take into consideration your readiness, what your partnership or organization can do, what may work best for your community, what you can afford to do and the practical feasibility of implementing the strategy in addition to the research findings. The Practice Findings criteria have been developed to summarize the practical evidence in support of different intervention strategies.
When you go to step five, you will have the chance to select a health condition or risk factor of interest to you and your partners. In each of these topics, you will be presented with different settings (community, worksites, schools, faith-based organizations, health care facilities and home) and intervention strategies to address the health condition or risk factor in each of these settings.
In the intervention strategies, an Evidence table will walk you through what the research tells us for that particular strategy:
- whether has been effective in changing behavior;
- whether it has been effective in influencing knowledge, skills, support, environments, policies or other intermediate factors;
- what settings and populations have been addressed;
- what resources have been used; and
- what challenges have been encountered.
Be cautious when using the Evidence table to understand the practice evidence. This table is not able to help you determine whether one intervention strategy is easier to implement (or put to action) than another strategy for the following reasons:
- Some intervention strategies are relatively new and there is not enough evidence to support how easy they are to implement.
- Some intervention strategies may be easier to implement in different settings or for different populations and evaluation in these different settings or for different populations has not yet occurred.
- Some intervention strategies have been used as one part of a larger intervention study, and, while findings for the entire study that the intervention is relatively easy to implement, it is difficult to know whether any one specific strategy is more or less easy to implement.
In order to develop the Evidence table for each intervention strategy, practice findings are abstracted according to the following components:
- Purpose or Goals: whether or not there is a description of the purpose or goals.
- Partners: whether or not more than one partner was included in the intervention.
- Intervention Components: whether the intervention included three or more components or two or fewer components.
- Implementation Protocol: whether there is a step-by-step detailed protocol available for easy replication, any protocol is available or no protocol is available.
- Certifications or Training: whether or not there is a stated or implied need for training or certification in order to deliver the intervention.
- Tools: whether or not intervention or evaluation tools are provided or referenced.
- Technology: whether a high, low or no level of technology or resources are needed to implement the intervention.
- Barriers to Implementation: whether or not the barriers to implementation are described.