Abstract
BackgroundAlthough comprehensive reporting guidelines for implementation strategy use within implementation research exist, they are rarely used by clinical (i.e., efficacy and effectiveness) researchers. In this debate, we argue that the lack of comprehensive reporting of implementation strategy use and alignment of those strategies with implementation outcomes within clinical research is a missed opportunity to efficiently narrow research-to-practice gaps.Main bodyWe review ways that comprehensively specifying implementation strategy use can advance science, including enhancing replicability of clinical trials and reducing the time from clinical research to public health impact. We then propose that revisions to frequently used reporting guidelines in clinical research (e.g., CONSORT, TIDieR) are needed, review current methods for reporting implementation strategy use (e.g., utilizing StaRI), provide pragmatic suggestions on how to both prospectively and retrospectively specify implementation strategy use and align these strategies with implementation outcomes within clinical research, and offer a case study of using these methods.ConclusionsThe approaches recommended in this article will not only contribute to shared knowledge and language among clinical and implementation researchers but also facilitate the replication of efficacy and effectiveness research. Ultimately, we hope to accelerate translation from clinical to implementation research in order to expedite improvements in public health.
Highlights
Comprehensive reporting guidelines for implementation strategy use within implementation research exist, they are rarely used by clinical researchers
Clinical researchers rarely specify all of the implementation strategies used within clinical trials or align those strategies with measured implementation outcomes which stymies translation from clinical to implementation research
We propose that revisions to frequently used reporting guidelines in clinical research (e.g., Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT), Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR)) are needed to nudge and support clinical researchers in this reporting
Summary
We call for clinical researchers to comprehensively report their use of implementation strategies, propose that revisions to the reporting guidelines most frequently used by clinical researchers are needed, offer a pragmatic way for researchers to track and report their use of implementation strategies, and provide an illustrative case study of using these methods. We hope to stimulate discussion in the field regarding specifying implementation strategy use earlier in the translational spectrum of science. We recognize that specifying implementation strategy use will likely increase the length of manuscripts. We invite readers to develop other innovative and pragmatic methods to support reporting of implementation strategy use in clinical research such as in protocol papers. It is our hope that the current manuscript will stimulate fruitful discussions between clinical and implementation researchers on ways to bridge the gap between these fields. We believe that these combined efforts will serve to accelerate knowledge translation from clinical research to meaningful improvements in public health
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