Letter to the editor on “the implementation research logic model: a method for planning, executing, reporting, and synthesizing implementation projects” (Smith JD, Li DH, Rafferty MR. the implementation research logic model: a method for planning, executing, reporting, and synthesizing implementation projects. Implement Sci. 2020;15 (1):84. Doi:10.1186/s13012-020-01041-8)

Abstract

In that paper, Smith and colleagues describe an innovative logic model whose core purpose is to specify the relationships between determinants, strategies, and outcomes in an implementation project and provides an explicit description of the mechanism(s) linking selected strategies and outcomes. A central premise of their paper is that inadequate specification of implementation strategies leads to obfuscation in “identifying the factors responsible for successful implementation and prevents learning from what contributed to failed implementation.” The inductive approach used to develop the “Implementation Research Logic Model” yielded a very helpful tool, but one which is perhaps still not fully developed, and may not provide enough guidance to move the field forward to the essential point of how to link between determinants that have been assessed as extant and important, and strategies to overcome (in the case of negative determinants or barriers), or enhance them (in the case of positive determinants or facilitators).