Table 3 Code definitions and examples from content analysis of impact questions
From: Metrics to evaluate implementation scientists in the USA: what matters most?
Code name | Code definition | Code example |
|---|---|---|
Better patient outcomes | Improved patient-level outcomes | “Improvement in the health and well-being of the people we are trying to reach with an evidence-based intervention” |
Capacity building | Greater individual, organization, or system capabilities to conduct and implement high-quality research and practice [21,22,23] | “Student training and mentorship (e.g., developing little D&I-lings)” |
Changing practice and/or policy | Practice-wide or policy-level changes | “Policy changed to promote evidence-based practice implementation as a result of implementation work” |
Conceptual or empirical contribution | Making a substantial conceptual or empirical contribution to the field | “Helping solve key implementation science methodological and conceptual issues” |
Partnership | Collaboration with partners, including community partners and research team collaborators | “Length and depth of connection to local community and state” |
Reach | The number of people reached by a policy or intervention and how representative they are of the target population [24] | “How many individuals are touched in the target population” |
Stakeholder demand | When community stakeholders (e.g., providers, patients) initiate contact with the implementation scientist to request intervention or expertise | “When community programs kept asking me for my intervention” |
Sustainability | Extent to which a program or policy becomes institutionalized or part of the routine organizational practices and policies [24]; maintenance over time | “Project sustained beyond funding from research” |
Traditional academic metrics | Traditional metrics for evaluating academic performance (e.g., grants, publications, citations) | “Number of high-profile publications and grants” |