Advancing Evidence-Based Public Health: A Practical Tool for Developing Implementation Guides

Issue

Many interventions are never scaled up or implemented beyond their original context. Scaling up evidence-based interventions requires structured strategies and dedicated tools, such as implementation guides, to adapt to organizational contexts and stakeholder dynamics. Although many guides describe implementation processes and scale-up steps, no tool is tailored to the French context to support intervention developers and deployment leaders in designing implementation guides.

Description of the problem

The DIPP initiative is a French multi-organizational collaboration focused on the implementation of evidence-based interventions. A subgroup within this collaboration developed a tool to support the formalization of implementation guides for public health interventions. It brings together stakeholders involved in deployment and intervention developers experienced in designing implementation guides. A literature review and analysis of existing implementation guides informed the development of the tool.

Results

The tool includes: an overview of key scale-up challenges and the role of implementation guides; an analysis of the scope, content, and cross-cutting components of existing guides; and key preliminary questions and steps for developing an implementation guide. It includes identifying target users, selecting the appropriate format, describing program theory and activities, distinguishing core components from adaptable elements, analyzing implementation contexts, and defining assesment indicators.

Lessons

This tool bridges implementation science, field experience, and insights from the DIPP initiative. It addresses stakeholder challenges, including anticipating contextual adaptation, strengthening the role of implementers, and recognizing coordination as a central function in deployment. By supporting the development of context-sensitive and knowledge-informed implementation guides, it aims to strengthen the uptake of evidence-based public health practices.

Key messages

• A structured tool is being developed to support the design of implementation guides, helping adapt evidence-based interventions to real-world public health contexts.

• It aims to improve the uptake and scale-up of evidence-based interventions, contributing to more effective and equitable public health practice.