“Putting meat on the bones”: Understanding the implementation of a community-based early intervention and prevention programme—contextual, person, and programme influences
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The adoption and effective delivery of evidence-based interventions within "real-world" community-based, primary health care service settings are of crucial importance. In this paper, we explore the successes and challenges of implementing a new complex, group-based, early parenting intervention called the Parent and Infant (PIN) programme. This study involved a systematic analysis of the processes and factors that influence the implementation of the PIN programme; the analysis was guided and informed by the Implementation Outcome Framework and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. A documentary review, alongside a series of one-to-one interviews and small group discussions with a range of stakeholders (n = 44), and 7 focus groups (n = 24) were used as data sources. Factors that promoted programme adoption, acceptability, and implementation feasibility included programme characteristics and stakeholder attitudes, as well as organisational and systems factors (e.g. leadership and collaboration). Key challenges to implementation success included engagement and adoption barriers. This research provides a useful and important example of real-world, theory-driven implementation research which helped to identify interrelated processes, factors, and contexts which shape and influence the implementation of early intervention and prevention programmes, removed for blind review.
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A handful of studies have used mixed methods to typify implementation outcomes in family- and parent-based intervention programs.
“A handful of studies have used mixed methods to typify implementation outcomes in family-and parent-based intervention programs (e.g., Czymoniewicz-Klippel et al., 2017;Hickey et al., 2021;Leckey et al., 2021;Lewis et al., 2016Lewis et al., , 2020;;Liverpool & Edbrooke-Childs, 2021;O'Byrne, 2020).”
From Perceived acceptability and appropriateness of a web-based program targeting risk for anxiety in young children and their parents (2025) · cites this paper as Hickey et al., 2021
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- Authors
- Hickey, G., McGilloway, S., Leckey, Y., Stokes, A., Bywater, T., & Donnelly, M.
- Affiliations
- National University of Ireland, Maynooth (IE)
- University of York (GB)
- Queen's University Belfast (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Hickey, Gráinne
- Venue
- Prevention Science
- Published
- 2020-10-15
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 113-129
- ISSN
- 1389-4986 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6695
- OpenAlex
- W3093469878
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 3
- FWCI
- 0.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Prevention Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Maynooth University ePrints and eTheses Archive (Maynooth University) (acceptedVersion)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Health Research Board (CARG/2012/2017)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Sciences Research and Education
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Clinical practice guidelines implementation
- Keywords
- implementation research, community-based primary care, implementation barriers, stakeholder engagement, organizational factors, group intervention, Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Parents, Primary Health Care, Primary Prevention, Parenting, Focus Groups, Early Intervention, Educational
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