Barriers and facilitators of community-based implementation of evidence-based interventions in the UK, for children and young people's mental health promotion, prevention and treatment: rapid scoping review

BACKGROUND: Community-based organisations continue to take on a greater role in supporting children and young people in the UK with their mental health. However, little evidence exists on the capacity and capability of these settings to effectively implement evidence-based interventions (EBIs). AIMS: To identify barriers and facilitators of the implementation of EBIs within community settings in the UK, for children and young people's mental health promotion, prevention and treatment. METHOD: A PRISMA-guided, rapid scoping review was conducted, using predefined criteria and a relevant search strategy on eight databases: Ovid EMBASE, Ovid Medline, Ovid PsycINFO, Ovid Global Health: Scopus, Web of Science All Databases, EBSCO CINAHL and EBSCO ERIC. Study characteristics and data on barriers and facilitators were extracted, with results narratively synthesised. RESULTS: Five out of 4899 studies met the inclusion criteria, addressing the barriers and facilitators of community-based implementation of EBIs for children and young people's mental health promotion, prevention and treatment. All of the studies that were identified focused on school settings, but we identified no studies that included data on barriers or facilitators of implementing EBIs in other community-based or voluntary sector settings. CONCLUSIONS: There is a lack of available evidence on the capacity and capability of community settings in the UK to effectively implement EBIs and adhere to evidence-based practice. However, existing findings within schools have highlighted key barriers and facilitators to implementation, such as the importance of meaningful involvement of stakeholders throughout the research process, and greater allocation of resources to support evidence-based decision-making in these settings.