More Than Just Training

Often, providers who decide that they want to increase their capacity to deliver CBT begin by looking for training. Training is certainly an essential step, but to successfully build long-term capacity for high-quality CBT, we draw on the field of Implementation Science.

Implementation Science is the study of methods for promoting the adoption of evidence-based practices into routine healthcare and public health settings. The goal of implementation science is to improve population health by closing the gap between what is known and what is done. Implementation scientists seek to investigate and address major barriers or facilitators (e.g. social, behavioral, attitudinal, economic, management) to effective implementation, develop and test new approaches to improve programming, and determine a causal relationship between the intervention and its impact.

Drawing on Implementation Science, the Penn Collaborative has developed a flexible model for partnering with providers to assess readiness for implementation of evidence-based practices like CBT, address any potential bottlenecks to success, integrate the new practices into the policies and procedures of the provider setting, and plan for sustained practice over time.

For more information about these practices, please see our cornerstone implementation program, the Beck Community Initiative, as well as our research highlights.

Links related to Implementation Science:

• National Implementation Research Network
• Seattle Implementation Research Collaborative
• American Psychological Association Division 12 Dissemination and Implementation Task Force
• Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research
• National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology  
• National Institute of Health Implementation Science Webinar Series
• Implementation Science Journal
• Implementation Research and Practice Journal