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There are four ways identified in the literature to select and tailor strategies to address the barriers you face in your context; some of these may require adding an implementation science expert, methodologist, or researcher to your change team.
An adapted method of concept mapping can provide a pragmatic approach to select and tailor implementation strategies to your setting through stakeholder perspectives. The use of a framework to inform the selecting and tailoring of strategies is an option for concept mapping. Intervention mapping is most used by researchers but would require incorporating at least one theory or framework to develop or select your strategies. Here are three approaches to select and tailor strategies, outlined below. We describe concept mapping and intervention mapping in further detail.
Main approaches to select and tailor strategies
| Name of resource & source | Brief description | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Involves generating, structuring, and analyzing ideas to create a visual map of concepts that are rated on specified dimensions (e.g., importance and feasibility). |
A participatory process that builds engagement in stakeholders. The ratings allow for the identification of barriers that may be most important and feasibly addressed. |
May require further training or methodological consultation. | |
| A systematic, multi-step method for developing implementation strategies that incorporate theory, evidence, and stakeholder perspectives. |
Provides a systematic way of operationalizing the strategy development process. Explicitly incorporates theory, evidence, and stakeholder perspectives |
May require further training or methodological consultation to incorporate theory, evidence and stakeholder perspectives. | |
| Requires stakeholders to select different “strategy profiles”, which allows for the determination of how they value different attributes of services, interventions, implementation strategies, etc. |
Provides a clear step-by-step method for selecting and tailoring strategies to unique settings. Forces stakeholders to consider attributes of strategies at a granular level, enhancing the precision with which strategies are tailored to the context. |
May yield what stakeholders desire, but not what is actually feasible. |
SOURCE: Table adapted from Powell et al., 2017.
