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Evaluating the feasibility of complex interventions in mental health services: standardised measure and reporting guidelines

Bird, Victoria; Le Boutillier, Clair; Leamy, Mary; Williams, Julie; Bradstreet, Simon; Slade, Mike

Evaluating the feasibility of complex interventions in mental health services: standardised measure and reporting guidelines Thumbnail


Authors

Victoria Bird

Clair Le Boutillier

Mary Leamy

Julie Williams

Simon Bradstreet



Abstract

Aims: To develop a) an empirically-based standardised measure of the feasibility of complex interventions for use within mental health services and b) reporting guidelines to facilitate feasibility assessment.
Method: A focussed narrative review of studies assessing implementation blocks and enablers was conducted with thematic analysis and vote counting used to determine candidate items for the measure. Twenty purposively sampled studies (15 trial reports, 5 protocols) were included in the psychometric evaluation, spanning different interventions types. Cohen’s Kappa was calculated for inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability.
Results: 95 influences on implementation were identified from 299 reviewed references. The final measure - Structured Assessment of Feasibility (SAFE) - comprises 16 items rated on a Likert scale. SAFE demonstrated excellent inter-rater (kappa 0.84, 95% CI 0.79 - 0.89) and test re-test reliability (kappa 0.89, 95% CI 0.85 - 0.93). Cost information and training time were the two influences least likely to be reported in intervention papers. SAFE Reporting Guidelines include 16 items organised into 3 categories (Intervention, Resource consequences, Evaluation).
Conclusion: SAFE is a novel approach to evaluating interventions, and supplements efficacy and health economic evidence. SAFE Reporting Guidelines will allow feasibility of an intervention to be systematically assessed.

Citation

Bird, V., Le Boutillier, C., Leamy, M., Williams, J., Bradstreet, S., & Slade, M. (2014). Evaluating the feasibility of complex interventions in mental health services: standardised measure and reporting guidelines. British Journal of Psychiatry, 204(4), https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.113.128314

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 5, 2013
Publication Date Apr 1, 2014
Deposit Date Jun 20, 2016
Publicly Available Date Jun 20, 2016
Journal British Journal of Psychiatry
Print ISSN 0007-1250
Electronic ISSN 1472-1465
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 204
Issue 4
DOI https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.113.128314
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/723723
Publisher URL http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/204/4/316
Additional Information This is an author-produced electronic version of an article accepted for publication in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at http://bjp.rcpsych.org)
Contract Date Jun 20, 2016