Implementation Mechanisms: The Next Frontier

Cara C. Lewis, PhD
Kaiser Permanente
Washington Health Research Institute

ABSTRACT:
Implementation mechanisms are the processes through which strategies work, or how strategies achieve their effect. Without knowing implementation mechanisms, one cannot effectively or efficiently select, match, tailor, or optimize implementation strategies. Recent systematic reviews suggest that few researchers attempt to explore implementation mechanisms given theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues. This talk will describe the current state of implementation mechanisms evaluation, an approach to articulating implementation mechanisms through causal pathway diagrams, and early learnings from an attempt to develop an implementation mechanisms research agenda.