Web-Based Dissemination Tool for Community Mental Health (WDT-C)

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over the past several decades, a large number of mental health (MH) practices and interventions have been rigorously tested through randomized control trials and shown efficacious. However, despite availability, evidence-based interventions (EBIs) are rarely adopted in everyday practice within community MH service settings. Further, even when adopted, MH EBIs are seldom implemented with strong adherence to the original design and often fail to be sustained over time. A growing body of literature demonstrates how implementation quality is directly related to the likelihood an EBI will be embedded into everyday clinical practice as well as the likelihood that EBI achieves its intended treatment outcomes. As outlined in NIMH's Strategic Plan, innovative methods to help close the gap between development of research-tested interventions and their widespread use are critically needed. This Phase II SBIR project will continue research and development of the Web- Based Dissemination Tool for Community Mental Health (WDT-C), a flexible technology infrastructure specifically designed to foster quality implementation of MH EBIs within community MH service settings on a broad scale. WDT-C will offer a suite of customizable online tools and services, including cost-efficient high quality training and supervision resources, ongoing implementation assistance for providers, adherence monitoring, and outcomes tracking. Prototype development and feasibility testing with key stakeholders were successfully completed in Phase I, providing substantial support for the product as well as specific recommendations for Phase II development. Three specific aims will be accomplished through this Phase II project. The first aim is to develop the full technology infrastructure utilizing Phase I feedback, and apply it to a third, independent MH EBI. To ensure maximal quality and make any needed adjustments prior to product testing, usability of this new WDT-C application will be assessed by community MH administrators and providers. The second aim is to conduct a scientific evaluation of WDT-C. Each of the three WDT-C supported EBIs will be implemented by community MH providers randomly assigned to either Implementation-As-Usual (no WDT-C support) or Enhanced Implementation (WDT-C supported implementation) conditions. Differences between conditions will be tested in five implementation outcome areas: (a) organizational readiness for intervention implementation, (b) adherence to intervention protocol, (c) satisfaction with intervention and implementation support, (d) sustainability of intervention, and (e) treatment benefits. The final aim is to finalize all product components based on Phase II findings and evaluations in preparation for Phase III commercialization. This SBIR project will yield a flexible, scalable technology infrastructure that can be applied to any community MH EBI to effectively decrease costs (time, financial, personnel) to both providers and intervention developers, enhance the quality with which EBIs are implemented in community settings, and increase dissemination of EBIs into "real world" everyday practice.