Table 2.
Overview of articles included in the interpretive synthesis (n = 37)
| Type of article | First author | Year | Country | Setting | Purpose of the study/article | Approach | PARIHS or i-PARIHS used | Application of (i-)PARIHS | Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empirical study | Carlan [21] | 2012 | Canada | Other (construction industry) | Determine the most effective ways to disseminate ideas to reduce musculoskeletal disorders in the construction sector | Qualitative | PARIHS | Interpretation | Conceptual: context |
| Empirical study | Bergstrom [22] | 2012 | Uganda (Africa) | Acute care/hospitals | Examine the relevance of contextual elements perceived to influence knowledge translation | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: context |
| Empirical study | Westergren [36] | 2012 | Sweden | Long-term care | Explore staff’s views of participating in action-oriented study circles focused on eating and nutrition | Mixed | PARIHS |
Analysis Interpretation |
Relational: dynamics among evidence, context, facilitation, and implementation success; Conceptual: implementation success |
| Empirical study | Rycroft-Malone [35] | 2013 | Multiple European countries | Acute care/hospitals | Determine how the implementation interventions were received and how implementation processes played out | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: implementation success, Conceptual: individual as a new element; Relational: dynamics among evidence, context, facilitation, and implementation success |
| Empirical study | Slaughter [44] | 2013 | Canada | Long-term care | Assess the effect of the sit-to-stand activity on mobility outcomes, the effect of an audit-and-feedback intervention on uptake of the sit-to-stand activity, and the influence of contextual factors | Quantitative | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Relational: relationships between context, facilitation, and implementation success |
| Empirical study | Watts [48] | 2014 | USA | US Veterans Affairs | Examine the effectiveness of Veterans Affairs efforts to promote use of evidence-based psychotherapies and evaluate how it impacts implementation | Mixed | PARIHS | Measurement | Relational: context and implementation success, facilitation and implementation success |
| Empirical study | Gagliardi [20] | 2014 | Canada | Multiple sectors | Explore how context influenced integrated knowledge translation, in three health services programs for cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment | Qualitative | PARIHS | Interpretation |
Conceptual: context; Conceptual: implementation success; Relational: context and implementation success |
| Empirical study | Tierney [39] | 2014 | UK | Primary care/community care | Evaluate how context affects the process of facilitating evidence-based practice | Qualitative | PARIHS | Interpretation | Relational: relationships between facilitation and context |
| Empirical study | McCullough [42] | 2015 | USA | US Veterans Affairs | Identify patterns among contextual elements that influence uptake of an anticoagulation initiative | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Relational: sub-elements of context and implementation success |
| Empirical study | Sandstrom [17] | 2015 | Sweden | Primary care/community care | Investigate perceptions of decision-makers regarding implementation of evidence-based guidelines | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: context |
| Empirical study | Brown [30] | 2016 | UK | Acute care settings/hospitals | Explore holistic facilitation as an approach to enabling healthcare teams to critically analyze practice and enhance patient care | Qualitative | Both | Interpretation | Conceptual: facilitation |
| Empirical study | Oye [23] | 2016 | Norway | Long-term care | Examine the influence of leadership when facilitating change | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: context (leadership) |
| Empirical study | Mekki [40] | 2017 | Norway | Long-term care | Explore the interplay between external facilitation and context relative to intervention outcomes | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Relational: relationships between facilitation and context/recipient |
| Empirical study | Ward [43] | 2017 | USA | Acute care settings/hospitals | Identify elements related to successful implementation of a quality improvement initiatives | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Relational: relationships between implementation success and evidence/ facilitation/ context |
| Empirical study | Diffin [38] | 2018 | UK | Multiple sectors | Investigate components related to the successful implementation of a person-centered intervention in palliative and end-of-life care | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Measurement Interpretation |
Relational: relationships between facilitation and evidence/context |
| Empirical study | Harvey [34] | 2018 | UK | Multiple sectors | Examine two different facilitation strategies employed by a national agency to support the implementation of insulin pump therapy | Qualitative | i-PARIHS |
Analysis Interpretation |
Relational: relationships between facilitation and implementation success |
| Empirical study | Rycroft-Malone [46] | 2018 | Multiple European countries | Long-term care | Use a realist process to evaluate the process of implementing two facilitation interventions | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Relational: relationships between context, facilitation, and implementation success |
| Empirical study | Lo [45] | 2018 | Canada | Long-term care | Explore the effect of clinical educators as facilitators of research use and how it is modified by context | Quantitative | PARIHS |
Measurement Interpretation |
Relational: interactions between context and facilitation in impacting implementation success |
| Empirical study | Butow [29] | 2019 | Australia | Acute care settings/hospitals | Document barriers and facilitators to the sustainability of ConquerFear | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: facilitation |
| Empirical study | Lachance [27] | 2019 | Canada | Primary care/community care | Examine mentoring as a type of facilitation supporting evidence use | Qualitative | Both |
Intervention Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: facilitation |
| Empirical study | Connolly [28] | 2020 | USA | US Veterans Affairs | Examine how facilitation contributes to successful implementation of healthcare interventions | Qualitative | i-PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: facilitation |
| Empirical study | Geerligs [19] | 2020 | Australia | Acute care settings/hospitals | Explore staff perspectives on the feasibility of strategies supporting the implementation of a clinical pathway | Qualitative | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: context; Conceptual: facilitation |
| Empirical study | Niemeyer Hultstrand [18] | 2020 | Eswatini (Africa) | Primary care/community care | Evaluate the implementation of the Reproductive Life Plan in disadvantaged communities | Mixed | i-PARIHS |
Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: context |
| Empirical study | Granberg [24] | 2021 | Sweden | Disability healthcare organizations | Explore managers' experiences of the implementation process when transferring new practices into care | Qualitative | i-PARIHS |
Measurement Interpretation |
Conceptual: context (leadership) |
| Empirical study | Ritchie [32] | 2021 | USA | US Veterans Affairs | Explore how an expert transfers facilitation skills to support implementation | Qualitative | i-PARIHS |
Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: facilitation |
| Empirical study | Steffen [33] | 2021 | USA | Acute care settings/hospitals | Examine pediatric intensive care unit-specific implementation barriers and facilitators | Qualitative | i-PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: facilitation; Conceptual: recipients |
| Empirical study | Olmos-Ochoa [31] | 2021 | USA | US Veterans Affairs | Present a case study that illustrates two distinct elements of facilitation and propose an expanded conceptual framework | Qualitative | i-PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: facilitation |
| Empirical study | Gustavson [41] | 2021 | USA | US Veterans Affairs | Explore fluctuations in barriers to medication treatment for opioid use disorder over the course of a 1-year external facilitation intervention | Qualitative | i-PARIHS |
Analysis Interpretation |
Relational: temporal changes in innovation, recipients, and context in response to facilitation |
| Empirical study | Lo [47] | 2021 | Canada | Long-term care | Explore the dynamic relationships between context, facilitation, and research use | Quantitative | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Relational: interactions between context and facilitation in impacting implementation success |
| Literature review | Watson [14] | 2018 | na | na | Identify external context constructs impacting implementation of complex evidence-based interventions | Integrative systematic review | Both | Interpretation | Conceptual: context |
| Literature review | Clavijo-Chamorro [16] | 2020 | na | na | Explore the nurses’ perceptions of context-related facilitators for the application of evidence | Meta-synthesis | PARIHS |
Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: context |
| Literature review | Dryden-Palmer [50] | 2020 | na | na | Synthesize the literature about the impact of, and the potential relationship between context, complexity, and processes | Realist-informed review | PARIHS | An overall guiding framework | Relational: dynamics among context, evidence/innovation, and implementation process |
| Literature review | Clavijo-Chamorro [25] | 2021 | na | na | Explore nurse managers' perceptions of the factors supporting the implementation of evidence through leadership | Meta-synthesis | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: context (leadership) |
| Theory/methodology article | Stetler [26] | 2011 | USA | na | Develop a detailed reference guide to help researchers apply PARIHS | Other (e.g., discussion article) | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: evidence; Conceptual: facilitation; Conceptual: implementation success |
| Theory/methodology article | Kramer [37] | 2013 | Canada | na | Develop a theory-based knowledge-transfer and exchange method of evaluation (KEME) that synthesizes three theoretical frameworks including PARIHS | Mixed | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: implementation success |
| Theory/methodology article | Pfadenhauer [15] | 2017 | na | na | Develop a framework for structured/comprehensive conceptualization of context and implementation of complex interventions | Other (e.g., discussion article) | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: context; Relational: dynamics among context, intervention, and implementation |
| Theory/methodology article | Mills [49] | 2019 | UK | na | Assess logic models used in healthcare research from a complexity perspective | Other (e.g., discussion article) | PARIHS |
Measurement Analysis Interpretation |
Conceptual: context Relational: dynamics among context, intervention, and facilitation |
Notes: aApplication of includes: Intervention—(i-)PARIHS was used to guide the development of implementation strategies to deliver a clinical intervention, Measurement—(i-)PARIHS was used to inform measurement or data collection, Analysis—(i-)PARIHS was used to inform data analysis, Interpretation—(i-)PARIHS was used to inform the interpretation or evaluation of study findings