Development and psychometric evaluation of the Implementation Support Competencies Assessment

Jensen, T.M., Metz, A.J. & Albers, B. Development and psychometric evaluation of the Implementation Support Competencies Assessment. Implementation Sci 19, 58 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-024-01390-8

Background: Implementation support practitioners (ISPs) are professionals that support others to implement evidence-informed practices, programs, and policies in various service delivery settings to achieve population outcomes. Measuring the use of competencies by ISPs provides a unique opportunity to assess an understudied facet of implementation science—how knowledge, attitudes, and skills used by ISPs affects sustainable change in complicated and complex service systems. This study describes the development and validation of a measure—the Implementation Support Competencies Assessment (ISCA)—that assesses implementation support competencies, with versatile applications across service contexts.

Methods: Recently developed practice guide materials included operationalizations of core competencies for ISPs across three domains: co-creation and engagement, ongoing improvement, and sustaining change. These operationalizations, in combination with recent empirical and conceptual work, provided an initial item pool and foundation on which to advance measurement development, largely from a confirmatory perspective (as opposed to exploratory). The measure was further refined through modified cognitive interviewing with three highly experienced ISPs and pilot-testing with 39 individuals enrolled in a university-based certificate program in implementation practice. To recruit a sample for validation analyses, we leveraged a listserv of nearly 4,000 individuals who have registered for or expressed interest in various events and trainings focused on implementation practice offered by an implementation science collaborative housed within a research-intensive university in the Southeast region of the United States. Our final analytic sample included 357 participants who self-identified as ISPs.

Results: Assessments of internal consistency reliability for each competency-specific item set yielded evidence of strong reliability. Results from confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for the factorial and construct validity of all three domains and associated competencies in the ISCA.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that one’s possession of high levels of competence across each of the three competency domains is strongly associated with theorized outcomes that can promote successful and sustainable implementation efforts among those who receive implementation support from an ISP. The ISCA serves as a foundational tool for workforce development to formally measure and assess improvement in the skills that are required to tailor a package of implementation strategies situated in context.

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LACY DICHARRY, MS, MS, MBA

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Marita Brack is the Associate Director for Psychology within NHS Education for Scotland, and has worked as a Clinical Psychologist for 25 years. Her clinical work has principally been within specialist mental health services for children, young people and their families, both in Scotland and Australia. Marita has also worked within university settings in relation to the training of Applied Psychologists, and was the Clinical Practice Director on the MSc in Applied Psychology for Children and Young People, delivered in partnership between the NHS and the University of Edinburgh. Marita joined NES in 2010 as the Head of Programme for the Parenting and Infant Mental Health workstream, within the Psychology Directorate, and through this role has led on the development and implementation of several strands of work, including the Psychology of Parenting Project (PoPP), the NES Infant Mental Health training plan, the Early Intervention Framework, and most recently Marita has been co-leading on the implementation of the Enhanced Psychological Practice-Children and Young People certificate level course that has been created within NES. Marita has a long-standing interest in early intervention and prevention approaches to strengthening mental health and wellbeing, evidence-based parent-child relationship interventions and public health.

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