Competences for implementation science: what trainees need to learn and where they learn it

Abstract

Education in implementation science, which involves the training of health professionals in how to implement evidence-based findings into health practice systematically, has become a highly relevant topic in health sciences education. The present study advances education in implementation science by compiling a competence profile for implementation practice and research and by exploring implementation experts’ sources of expertise. The competence profile is theoretically based on educational psychology, which implies the definition of improvable and teachable competences. In an online-survey, an international, multidisciplinary sample of 82 implementation experts named competences that they considered most helpful for conducting implementation practice and implementation research. For these competences, they also indicated whether they had acquired them in their professional education, additional training, or by self-study and on-the-job experience. Data were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach that combined qualitative content analyses with descriptive statistics. The participants deemed collaboration knowledge and skills most helpful for implementation practice. For implementation research, they named research methodology knowledge and skills as the most important ones. The participants had acquired most of the competences that they found helpful for implementation practice in self-study or by on-the-job experience. However, participants had learned most of their competences for implementation research in their professional education. The present results inform education and training activities in implementation science and serve as a starting point for a fluid set of interdisciplinary implementation science competences that will be updated continuously. Implications for curriculum development and the design of educational activities are discussed.

Implementation Practice in Human Service Systems: Understanding the Principles and Competencies of Professionals Who Support Implementation

“…A review of the literature demonstrates two important findings. First, there has been an increase in the last five years of publications on developing training curricula to build core competencies for implementation among researchers and direct service providers (Kirchner et al, 2016;Leeman et al, 2017, Moore, Rashid, Park, Khan, & Straus, 2018Provvidenza, Townley, Wincentak, Peacocke, & Kingsnorth, 2020;Ramaswamy, et al, 2019;Schultes, Aijaz, Klug, & Fixsen, 2020;Straus, Brouwers, et al, 2011;Ullrich, Mahler, Forstner, Szecsenyi, & Wensing, 2017). Second, most of these curricula are focused on building the competencies of implementation researchers, service practitioners or leaders within social service or health service agencies.…”

Teaching for implementation: A framework for building implementation research and practice capacity within the translational science workforce

“…As mentioned above, a core curriculum based on the foundations of implementation science is well suited for teaching in a way that will stimulate discovery. Additionally, surveys of implementation scientists and practitioners suggest that several of the most important professional skills they've learned were learned "on-the-job" and after their formal education 30 . As such, it will only benefit implementation learners to structure educational opportunities that emulate the real world and that allow each member of the interprofessional implementation team to learn and practice their roles.…”

Assessment of research ethics education offerings of pharmacy master programs in an Arab nation relative to top programs worldwide: A qualitative content analysis

“…Furthermore, low level of institutional support [ 15 ] and uncoordinated initiatives [ 4 ] may also have a negative impact on the outcomes of RCR education. In addition to specifying clear goals for RCR education, several other strategies have been proposed in the literature to overcome the obstacles mitigating the outcomes of RCR training, including competence-based development of RE instructions [ 40 , 41 ], applying research-based narratives assignment [ 42 , 43 ], careful consideration of instructional designs [ 36 , 44 ], applying the principles of andragogy [ 45 ] and leaning theories [ 44 , 46 ] to RCR education, improving mentoring strategies of RCR educators [ 10 , 47 – 50 ], and using situational factors in real research environment rather than classrooms experience [ 36 , 51 , 52 ], as well as online teaching using internet-based courses [ 53 – 56 ].…”