Learning Across Contexts: Bringing Together Research on Research Use and Implementation Science

Supplee, L., Boaz, A., & Metz, A.(2023). Learning across contexts: Bringing together research on research use and implementation science. William T. Grant Foundation. https://wtgrantfoundation.org/the-digest-issue-8

Recent publications by implementation researchers underscore promising new directions in implementation science while also acknowledging potential challenges for the field to address in the years ahead (Beidas et al., 2022; Metz et al., 2022). At the same time, scholars in the field of research on research use are forging new directions of their own by drawing on a wider range of bodies of knowledge to investigate strategies for improving and assessing research use.

The fields of implementation science and the study of research use in policy and practice travel on many of the same roads and share similar goals, chief among which is improving societal outcomes through the application of research. Both fields also attract interdisciplinary teams and create strikingly similar knowledge across contexts. However, key differences have emerged in these two fields of study and the assumptions they make in the empirical work. These differences provide opportunities to strengthen the next generation of both implementation science and research on research use.

In this essay, the authors highlight how similarities and differences in the methods, approaches, and evolution of each of these fields can contribute to mutually beneficial insights and potential alignments. They describe each field in detail, with an eye toward highlighting key assumptions and differences, and they conclude by discussing opportunities for learning across fields. Overall, they aim to inspire a dialogue that may build a stronger foundation for supporting evidence use in ways that achieve equitable outcomes for people and communities.

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LACY DICHARRY, MS, MS, MBA

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Some of the world’s most successful speakers, leaders, and coaches rely on just one of these credentials in their work. Lacy Dicharry combines all three to deliver empowerment and actionable insight to every audience she reaches.

A survivor of childhood trauma and the trials of the foster care system, Lacy’s story of personal strength and resilience began at a young age. Resulting battles with mental health and addiction were to follow. To some, a story of perseverance. For Lacy, a journey to becoming the person she was meant to be.

Lacy has earned designation as a Master of Business Administration, a dual Master of Science in both Counseling Psychology and Leadership and Human Resource Development and is actively completing her PhD in Philosophy, Leadership and Human Resource Development. Her research centers on the same objective that forms the foundation of her career as both a speaker and workforce champion: revolutionizing leadership.

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In concepts including transformational leadership and healing-centered leaders, Lacy Dicharry lives to empower others to transform the way they live, the way they lead, and the world around them.

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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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