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CUSTOMISE
The CUSTOMISE (Comparing and Understanding Tailoring Methods for Implementation Strategies in Healthcare) study is funded through a Health Research Board (HRB) Research Leader Award (2020-2025). Dr Sheena McHugh is the Principal Investigator on this five-year programme of research. The award will support research on the process and impact of tailoring strategies to implement evidence-based interventions and build capacity and collaborations in implementation science. The research programme focuses in the first instance on improving care for older people and people with diabetes, two groups prioritised in the national healthcare strategy, Sláintecare. As part of the HRB Research Leader Award, we will train researchers and practitioners involved in implementation to build expertise in Ireland and establish a network of people interested in this topic.
Why are we doing this research?
Our two main research questions are:
- How can we accurately, efficiently, and effectively tailor strategies to support the implementation of evidence-based interventions for older people and those with complex chronic conditions, to enhance implementation effectiveness and subsequently improve quality of care and health outcomes?
- How can we strengthen partnerships between researchers and health service organizations to build capacity, support integrated knowledge translation, and increase use of research in the health service for the benefit of service users?
The research programme comprises of a number of work packages.
The aim of this work package is to identify systemic barriers and enablers to evidence-based practice in the Irish health system and identify potential solutions. This identification of systematic barriers and enablers will also be used to ensure the solutions (implementation strategies) developed and tested in subsequent work packages are tailored to the institutional/policy context as well as the local health service delivery context. Dr Susan Calnan is leading a project with the HSE which will feed into WP1. You can find out more about that project here.
The aim of this project is to investigate the three established stages of the tailoring process:
- Identify barriers and enablers to implementation. We will engage with partners and key stakeholders in each area to identify barriers and enablers to the implementation of their evidence-based intervention.
- Prioritise barriers and select implementation strategies. We will compare approaches to prioritise barriers and select appropriate implementation strategies.
- Apply and evaluate tailored implementation strategies. We will evaluate the tailored implementation strategies selected.
A multiple case study of the tailoring process conducted in WP 2-4 will be used to compare the acceptability, feasibility, cost and outcome of different approaches in the health service. The case study will be conducted in parallel with the WP2-4 on the stages of the tailoring process.
The aim of this work package is to improve the reporting and subsequent application of implementation strategies. This piece will leverage tools from behavioural science, which name and define the active ingredients of complex interventions, to improve the specification of implementation strategies in research and application in practice. Dr Sheena McHugh and Dr Byron Powell are leading this work package.
We are conducting two pieces of work as part of this WP to inform the broader CUSTOMISE research programme:
1. A scoping review to characterise the processes and outcomes of tailoring implementation strategies
2. An update of the 2015 Cochrane review 'Tailored interventions to address determinants of professional practice'
These pieces of work are being conducted in collaboration with members of the international Scientific Advisory Group. Dr Fiona Riordan is leading on the scoping review and Dr Sheena McHugh is leading on the Cochrane review update. Dr Eimear Morrissey from NUIG is working on the Cochrane review as an Evidence Synthesis Ireland Fellow co-mentored by Dr McHugh and Prof. Luke Wolfenden from the University of Newcastle, Australia.
The aim of this work package is to develop and deliver training and supports for researchers and implementation practitioners in knowledge translation from dissemination to implementation. The Irish Implementation Training Institute will run over the course of the 5-year project.
CUSTOMISE outputs
Riordan F, Curran GM, Lewis CC et al. Characterising processes and outcomes of tailoring implementation strategies in healthcare: a protocol for a scoping review [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]. HRB Open Res 2022, 5:17 (https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.13507.1)
