Abstract
Dissemination of behavior change interventions can be enhanced by considering key elements related to public health impact in the study design and planning phases of research projects. In this article we describe a framework of reach, efficacy/effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance known as RE-AIM and how it can be used to plan and design studies with features that can strengthen the potential translation of interventions. In describing how RE-AIM concepts were introduced to and adopted by 15 behavior change intervention studies as part of the Behavioral Change Consortium (BCC), we provide an example of practical application of the framework. Recommendations for applying the framework to study planning are based on literature reviews conducted by the RE-AIM workgroup and on discussions with investigators who participated in BCC. Utilizing RE-AIM as a planning framework may have increased attention to issues of external validity among BCC studies and enhanced the potential translation and dissemination of intervention findings into practice.
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Lisa M. Klesges is now in the Department of Health Sciences Research at the Mayo Clinic.
This work was supported with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and National Institutes of Health (NICHD Grant R01 HD37367, NHLBI Grant R01 HL62156, and NCI Grant R01 CA80725).
We acknowledge the members of the Behavioral Change Consortium (BCC) representativeness and translation workgroup, Drs. John Allegrante, Belinda Borrelli, Phillip Clark, Robin Mockenhaupt, and Marcia Ory. Appreciation is also given to Dr. Patricia Jordan for her assistance with the survey and to all BCC investigators who completed our surveys and offered helpful discussion of RE-AIM elements.
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Klesges, L.M., Estabrooks, P.A., Dzewaltowski, D.A. et al. Beginning with the application in mind: Designing and planning health behavior change interventions to enhance dissemination. ann. behav. med. 29, 66–75 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324796abm2902s_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324796abm2902s_10