Embedding research to improve program implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean

ABSTRACT In the last 10 years, implementation research has come to play a critical role in improving the implementation of already-proven health interventions by promoting the systematic uptake of research findings and other evidence-based strategies into routine practice. The Alliance for Health Po...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nhan Tran, Etienne V. Langlois, Ludovic Reveiz, Ilona Varallyay, Vanessa Elias, Arielle Mancuso, Francisco Becerra-Posada, Abdul Ghaffar
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Spanish
Portuguese
Published: Pan American Health Organization 2017
Subjects:
Evidence-based practice
health plan implementation
program evaluation
Latin America
West Indies
Medicine
R
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
Arctic
Argentina
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/4b23130130b943dab0fcc63d3cdc964a
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT In the last 10 years, implementation research has come to play a critical role in improving the implementation of already-proven health interventions by promoting the systematic uptake of research findings and other evidence-based strategies into routine practice. The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research and the Pan American Health Organization implemented a program of embedded implementation research to support health programs in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2014–2015. A total of 234 applications were received from 28 countries in the Americas. The Improving Program Implementation through Embedded Research (iPIER) scheme supported 12 implementation research projects led by health program implementers from nine LAC countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Saint Lucia. Through this experience, we learned that the “insider” perspective, which implementers bring to the research proposal, is particularly important in identifying research questions that focus on the systems failures that often manifest in barriers to implementation. This paper documents the experience of and highlights key conclusions about the conduct of embedded implementation research. The iPIER experience has shown great promise for embedded research models that place implementers at the helm of implementation research initiatives.

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