Health & human services currently face a series of challenges
- such as aging populations chronic diseases & new endemics
- that require highly complex responses & take place in multiple care environments including acute medicine chronic care facilities & the community Accordingly most modern health care interventions are now seen as 'complex interventions'
- activities that contain a number of component parts with the potential for interactions between them which when applied to the intended target population produce a range of possible & variable outcomes This in turn requires methodological developments that also take into account changing values & attitudes related to the situation of patients' receiving health care The first book to place complex interventions within a coherent system of research enquiry this work is designed to help researchers understand the research processes involved at each stage of developing testing evaluating & implementing complex interventions & assist them to integrate methodological activities to produce secure evidence-based health care interventions It begins with conceptual chapters which set out the complex interventions framework discuss the interrelation between knowledge development & evidence & explore how mixed methods research contributes to enhanced health Structured around the influential UK Medical Research Council guidance for use of complex interventions four sections each comprised of bite-sized chapters written by multidisciplinary experts in the area focus on
- Developing complex interventions
- Assessing the feasibility of complex interventions & piloting them
- Evaluating complex interventions
- Implementing complex interventions Accessible to students & researchers grappling with complex interventions each substantive chapter
Includes:: an introduction bulleted learning objectives clinical examples a summary & further reading The perspectives of various stakeholders including patients families & professionals are discussed throughout as are the economic & ethical implications of methods A vital companion for health research this book is suitable for readers from multidisciplinary disciplines such as medical nursing public health health services research human services & allied healthcare backgrounds