Understanding the value of adhering to or adapting evidence-based interventions: a study protocol of a discrete choice experiment

BACKGROUND: Whereas the value of an evidence-based intervention (EBI) is often determined by its effect on clinical outcomes, the value of implementing and using EBIs in practice is broader, reflecting qualities such as appropriateness, equity, costs, and impact. Reconciling these value conflicts involves a complicated decision process that has received very limited scholarly attention. Inspired by studies on decision-making, the objective of this project is to explore how practitioners appraise the values of different outcomes and to test how this appraisal influences their decisions surrounding the so-called fidelity–adaptation dilemma. This dilemma is related to the balance between using an EBI as it was designed (to ensure its effectiveness) and making appropriate adaptations (to ensure alignment with constraints and possibilities in the local context). METHODS: This project consists of three sub-studies. The participants will be professionals leading evidence-based parental programs in Sweden and, in Sub-study 1, parents and decision-makers. Sub-study 1 will use sequential focus groups and individual interviews to explore parameters that influence fidelity and adaptation decisions—the dilemmas encountered, available options, how outcomes are valued by practitioners as well as other stakeholders, and value trade-offs. Sub-study 2 is a discrete choice experiment that will test how value appraisals influence decision-making using data from Sub-study 1 as input. Sub-study 3 uses a mixed-method design, with findings from the two preceding sub-studies as input in focus group interviews to investigate how practitioners make sense of findings from optimal decision situations (experiment) and constrained, real-world decision situations. DISCUSSION: The project will offer unique insights into decision-making processes that influence how EBIs are used in practice. Such knowledge is needed for a more granular understanding of how practitioners manage the fidelity–adaptation dilemma and thus, ultimately, how the value of EBI implementation can be optimized. This study contributes to our knowledge of what happens once EBIs are adopted—that is, the gap between the way in which EBIs are intended to be used and the way in which they are used in practice.