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. 2017 Apr 3;7(4):e013318.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013318.

Standards for Reporting Implementation Studies (StaRI): explanation and elaboration document

Hilary Pinnock  1 , Melanie Barwick  2   3 , Christopher R Carpenter  4 , Sandra Eldridge  5 , Gonzalo Grandes  6 , Chris J Griffiths  7 , Jo Rycroft-Malone  8 , Paul Meissner  9 , Elizabeth Murray  10 , Anita Patel  7 , Aziz Sheikh  1 , Stephanie J C Taylor  7 ; StaRI Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Standards for Reporting Implementation Studies (StaRI): explanation and elaboration document

Hilary Pinnock et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: Implementation studies are often poorly reported and indexed, reducing their potential to inform the provision of healthcare services. The Standards for Reporting Implementation Studies (StaRI) initiative aims to develop guidelines for transparent and accurate reporting of implementation studies.

Methods: An international working group developed the StaRI guideline informed by a systematic literature review and e-Delphi prioritisation exercise. Following a face-to-face meeting, the checklist was developed iteratively by email discussion and critical review by international experts.

Results: The 27 items of the checklist are applicable to the broad range of study designs employed in implementation science. A key concept is the dual strands, represented as 2 columns in the checklist, describing, on the one hand, the implementation strategy and, on the other, the clinical, healthcare or public health intervention being implemented. This explanation and elaboration document details each of the items, explains the rationale and provides examples of good reporting practice.

Conclusions: Previously published reporting statements have been instrumental in improving reporting standards; adoption by journals and authors may achieve a similar improvement in the reporting of implementation strategies that will facilitate translation of effective interventions into routine practice.

Keywords: Dissemination and implementation research; EQUATOR Network; Implementation Science; Organisational innovation; Reporting standards.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: research grants from Chief Scientist Office (HP), Asthma UK (AS, HP, SJCT), Farr Institute (AS), NIHR HS&DR (HP, SJCT), NIHR CLAHRC (SJCT) for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; CRC is the Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Academic Emergency Medicine and on the editorial boards for the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and Annals of Internal Medicine's ACP Journal Club and serves as paid faculty for Emergency Medical Abstracts, JR-M is the Director of the NIHR HS&DR Programme, no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Example of a timeline describing an implementation strategy (compiled from Pinnock et al description of the implementation of a telephone service for providing asthma reviews). Note: The three-arm implementation study is illustrated in the centre of this schema with the preceding usual care, randomisation on 1 January 2004, the 15-month intervention and subsequent roll-out. The context (specifically the introduction of the Quality and Outcome Framework) is shown at the top of the schema. Below the three-arms of the study are the components of the implementation strategy from set-up and training, ongoing service provision and maintenance and adoption into routine practice.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of outcomes and the related items in the Standards for Reporting Implementation Studies checklist.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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