Harnessing Community Engaged Methodologies and Implementation Science Frameworks to Center Community Knowledge and Implement Evidence-Based Practices

Implementation Science (IS) is a research field dedicated to closing the gap between research and practice. Although there have been substantial advances within IS, particularly in advancing the use of research in clinical settings and institutions, there are growing calls for advancement of IS approaches to promote health equity in more upstream community environments. Research shows this advancement is needed: up to 80% of variation in health outcomes are determined by community level determinants, compared to the 20% attributable to clinical factors. However, IS studies in community settings (where contextual factors are less hierarchical, more informally structured, and highly dynamic) are rarely executed. In marginalized community settings, implementation barriers and supports are often fundamentally different than in resource rich settings where evidence-based practices (EBPs) are typically developed and tested. Additionally, community needs, understandings, and priorities do not always align with those embedded within mainstream intervention and prevention science approaches. Areas of misalignment can include: financial costs, face validity (based on different understandings/priorities) acceptability, feasibility, and other community identified outcomes which speak to external validity.

Participatory and community-engaged methodologies are longstanding approaches to community-centered implementation of new interventions. Social Workers are in a unique position to integrate participatory methodologies with IS models and frameworks to democratize the implementation process and improve intervention utility for a diversity of community settings. Many social work scholars and practitioners utilize community-engaged approaches when developing and delivering new programs and services. However, many do not formally identify, assess, or evaluate their uniquely developed implementation strategies, processes, and outcomes. Here, we present an important opportunity to combine social work expertise in community engagement with models and methods from IS to advance the culturally and contextually appropriate implementation of EBPs in community settings, particularly for marginalized communities.

This workshop will: 1) provide an opportunity for participants to increase their knowledge about IS and its utility for social work research and practice in community settings and 2) support participants in applying established implementation frameworks and methods to programs using community-based participatory principles for research and practice. Workshop leaders will first provide an introductory overview of IS as a field, with emphasis on where and how participatory approaches fit. Second, we will present information about three types of IS frameworks: determinant (e.g., CFIR 2.0); process (e.g., Transcreation Framework); and outcome evaluation (e.g., RE-AIM) frameworks. Third, participants will collaborate in small groups to review these frameworks and identify areas where participatory and community engaged methodologies are especially important for implementation of community programs, and report out to the larger group. Fourth, we will present a case study of a community-engaged intervention project, and small groups will practice application of the IS frameworks, using the previous discussion to identify ways implementation factors might be explored, assessed, or evaluated. Finally, we will facilitate a closing discussion to share small group learning and discuss ways participants can integrate participatory approaches with implementation frameworks in their own research to center community knowledge and build contextually responsive implementation strategies for EBPs in community settings.