Open AccessThe Sustainability of Evidence-Based Interventions and Practices in Public Health and Health Care
Author(s) -
Rachel C. Shelton,
Brittany Rhoades Cooper,
Shan Wiltsey Stirman
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
annual review of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.239
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1545-2093
pISSN - 0163-7525
DOI - 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-014731
Subject(s) - sustainability , psychological intervention , public health , health care , population , intervention (counseling) , environmental health , medicine , psychology , environmental resource management , public relations , nursing , political science , economic growth , economics , ecology , biology
There is strong interest in implementation science to address the gap between research and practice in public health. Research on the sustainability of evidence-based interventions has been growing rapidly. Sustainability has been defined as the continued use of program components at sufficient intensity for the sustained achievement of desirable program goals and population outcomes. This understudied area has been identified as one of the most significant translational research problems. Adding to this challenge is uncertainty regarding the extent to which intervention adaptation and evolution are necessary to address the needs of populations that differ from those in which interventions were originally tested or implemented. This review critically examines and discusses conceptual and methodological issues in studying sustainability, summarizes the multilevel factors that have been found to influence the sustainability of interventions in a range of public health and health care settings, and highlights key areas for future research.