Implementation of interventions and medical/health implementation research
Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen
This is a generic course. This means that the course is reserved for PhD students at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at UCPH.
Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at the Graduate School, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrolment deadline, available seats will be allocated to the waiting list.
The course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD students at NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee
Learning objectives
A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:
1. Achieve knowledge and competencies to implement interventions and change.
2. Have competencies to plan, conduct, report and evaluate the implementation of interventions and implementation research.
3. Have knowledge and understanding of fundamental principles of designing, conducting, and reporting implementation processes and implementation research.
4. Have knowledge, understanding and competencies of designing projects with hybrid designs and argumentation of the challenges involved.
5. Analyse and argue for how to select implementation frameworks, theories, and models.
6. Have knowledge and competencies to tailored implementation strategies.
7. Achieve knowledge and competencies to build implementation capacity in practice.
8. Prepared a written assignment for the intervention and/or implementation.
9. Create networks among implementation researchers.
Content
Many clinicians and researchers experience getting a good idea or having developed an intervention through a clinical intervention study with a positive effect and now need to implement it into daily practice. This is where the problems arise. Many face different barriers, for example in the form of resistance to the intervention, lack of resources, lack of management support or physical room or spaces that do not match. These are classic implementation challenges that can delay or even hinder an implementation into daily practice. Research has shown that 90% of all resources for innovation are spent on creating interventions, policies, programs - but only 10% is spent on the implementation itself. In the primary sector in Denmark, less than 5% of all projects have allocated finances for implementation, and few projects are followed up with strategies and action plans for implementation, meaning that many solid projects end up gathering dust in a drawer.
The overall aim of the Ph.D. course is to bridge this “knowing-doing gap” in today’s health care system so that clinical interventional research stands a better chance of real (clinical) world implementation. The course will demonstrate how implementation can be researched and how it benefits from being considered before clinical research or change processes are started. More specifically, we aim for the participants to acquire knowledge, understanding and competencies regarding implementation of interventions, changes and implementation research. This includes a take on the challenges you may encounter when trying to get a result to be disseminated and adopted in practice and the decision-making processes it requires. Relevante theories, models and frameworks to analyze implementation determinants and outcomes are introduced and you will gain competencies and skills in applying methods and tools to research and facilitate real-world implementation.
The content of the course will be an introduction to; why implementation knowledge and research are needed when working with interventions and changes, and how to think about implementation research and practice in health and medical sciences. Implementation research and practice covering knowledge and understanding of the characteristics of implementation and implementation science; its history (beginning in the 60s), determinants ( e.g. context, culture intervention components), three types of hybrid designs, core implementation concepts, implementation outcomes and the challenge of changing behaviours, strategies to facilitate implementation of interventions and changes, programme theory and evaluation of implementation.
Forteen modules are planned. Prepared as five consecutive days. All modules will alternate between lecture-style teaching with a high level of interaction with the participants presenting their examples of implementation objectives, group work and discussions among the participants, for more active engagement and improved learning. Both theoretical approaches (theories, models and frameworks) and empirical examples will be covered. Preparatory work is expected through forwarding a project description of own or shared study, to be developed throughout the course.
Participants
University degree in medicine, dentistry, nursing, public health or master’s degree in other fields and/or postgraduate research fellows (Ph.D. students and research-year medical students). No special qualifications are required but an interest in performing implementation research.
Minimum 12 participants, maximum 20 participants.
Relevance to graduate programmes
The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH:
All graduate programmes
Language
English and Danish
Form
Lectures, group work, discussions and technology-supported (see Pedagogical considerations in the attached programme)
Course director
Senior researcher, Associate professor in implementation research, Jeanette Wassar Kirk, Ph.D., Department of Clinical Research, Copenhagen University Hospital, Amager and Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark and Department of Health and Social Context, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark. E-mail: jeanette.wassar.kirk@regionh.dk
Professor, Ove Andersen, Department of Clinical Research, Copenhagen University Hospital, Amager and Hvidovre, Copenhagen and Department of Clinical Medicine, Denmark. E-mail: ove.andersen@regionh.dk
Teachers
Senior researcher, Associate professor in implementation research, Jeanette Wassar Kirk, Ph.D., Department of Clinical Research, Copenhagen University Hospital, Amager and Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark and Department of Health and Social Context, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.
Professor Ove Andersen, Department of Clinical Research, Copenhagen University Hospital, Amager and Hvidovre, Copenhagen and Department of Clinical Medicine, Denmark
Professor Thomas Q Bandholm, Department of Clinical Research, Copenhagen University Hospital, Amager and Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark and Clinical Exercise Physiology and Rehabilitation at the Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Associate professor Marie Broholm-Jørgensen, Department of Health and Social Context, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
Professor Per Nilsen, Department of Health, Medical and Caring Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Senior researcher Margit Neher, Department of Health, Medical and Caring Sciences, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden
Postdoctoral Researcher Bianca Alberts, University of Zurich, Zürich, Zürich, Schweiz
Associate Professor, Associate Dean for Research Byron Powell
PhD, Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis
Dates
4.-8 marts 2025
Course location
Department of Clinical Research, Copenhagen University Hospital, Amager and Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark
Registration
Please register before 15. Januar 2025
Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules.
Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment.
Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.