Testing psychosocial interventions in the contexts they are meant to be delivered. 2023

Rinad S Beidas, and Lisa Saldana, and Rachel C Shelton
Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

This article discusses psychosocial interventions in the contexts they are meant to be delivered. Prevention and intervention science often follow the linear pathway of preclinical or pre-intervention research-efficacy trials, effectiveness trials, and implementation studies-with the assessment of translation into public and population health impact occurring at the end. This linear translational pathway follows stages developed for ascertaining safe, efficacious, and effective dosages for biological compounds. This approach has created limitations in the need to rapidly deploy complex, multi-component, multilevel approaches to change behavior and improve health into widespread practice for diverse clinical and public health settings. While it is important to use efficacy trials when safety is yet to be established, when the risks are identified to be low, as is often the case for psychosocial interventions, we can go faster to achieve equitable population health impact. The authors recommend that clinical trialists engaged in intervention development incorporate two considerations in the next generation of prevention and intervention research. First, consider moving right to effectiveness or pragmatic trials, as the most valid test of an intervention is the est of that intervention in the context(s) in which it is intended. Second, when designing effectiveness studies, consider investigating questions related to both effectiveness (i.e., does the intervention improve clinical outcomes) and implementation (i.e., what supports are needed to deploy the intervention routinely in that context) to accelerate impact. As a matter of both ethics and equity, there is a need to expedite the research-to-practice pipeline at a pace faster than is made available through current approaches. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000083626 Psychosocial Intervention Psychological and social interventions by providers including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors/therapists, primary care and other nonpsychiatric physicians, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, religious leaders, lay and peer providers, paraprofessionals and caregivers, and automated providers (e.g. internet/audio/video-delivered interventions). Combinations of provider options are sometimes used. Psychological Intervention,Intervention, Psychological,Intervention, Psychosocial,Interventions, Psychological,Interventions, Psychosocial,Psychological Interventions,Psychosocial Interventions

Related Publications

Rinad S Beidas, and Lisa Saldana, and Rachel C Shelton
December 2013, European journal of preventive cardiology,
Rinad S Beidas, and Lisa Saldana, and Rachel C Shelton
June 2022, The American journal of medicine,
Rinad S Beidas, and Lisa Saldana, and Rachel C Shelton
May 2003, Nature,
Rinad S Beidas, and Lisa Saldana, and Rachel C Shelton
April 2018, Current opinion in structural biology,
Rinad S Beidas, and Lisa Saldana, and Rachel C Shelton
September 1988, The Australian nurses' journal. Royal Australian Nursing Federation,
Rinad S Beidas, and Lisa Saldana, and Rachel C Shelton
July 2007, Nature,
Rinad S Beidas, and Lisa Saldana, and Rachel C Shelton
January 1992, Rivista dell'infermiere,
Rinad S Beidas, and Lisa Saldana, and Rachel C Shelton
May 2001, Nursing management,
Rinad S Beidas, and Lisa Saldana, and Rachel C Shelton
July 2015, Nature,
Copied contents to your clipboard!