Adapting interventions that have worked elsewhere can save resources associated with developing new interventions for each specific context. While a developing body of evidence shows benefits of ...adapted interventions compared with interventions transported without adaptation, there are also examples of interventions which have been extensively adapted, yet have not worked in the new context. Decisions on when, to what extent, and how to adapt interventions therefore are not straightforward, particularly when conceptualising intervention effects as contingent upon contextual interactions in complex systems. No guidance currently addresses these questions comprehensively. To inform development of an overarching guidance on adaptation of complex population health interventions, this systematic review synthesises the content of the existing guidance papers.
We searched for papers published between January 2000 and October 2018 in 7 bibliographic databases. We used citation tracking and contacted authors and experts to locate further papers. We double screened all the identified records. We extracted data into the following categories: descriptive information, key concepts and definitions, rationale for adaptation, aspects of adaptation, process of adaptation, evaluating and reporting adapted interventions. Data extraction was conducted independently by two reviewers, and retrieved data were synthesised thematically within pre-specified and emergent categories.
We retrieved 6694 unique records. Thirty-eight papers were included in the review representing 35 sources of guidance. Most papers were developed in the USA in the context of implementing evidence-informed interventions among different population groups within the country, such as minority populations. We found much agreement on how the papers defined key concepts, aims, and procedures of adaptation, including involvement of key stakeholders, but also identified gaps in scope, conceptualisation, and operationalisation in several categories.
Our review found limitations that should be addressed in future guidance on adaptation. Specifically, future guidance needs to be reflective of adaptations in the context of transferring interventions across countries, including macro- (e.g. national-) level interventions, better theorise the role of intervention mechanisms and contextual interactions in the replicability of effects and accordingly conceptualise key concepts, such as fidelity to intervention functions, and finally, suggest evidence-informed strategies for adaptation re-evaluation and reporting.
PROSPERO 2018, CRD42018112714.
Guidelines on public health and health system interventions often involve considerations beyond effectiveness and safety to account for the impact that these interventions have on the wider systems ...in which they are implemented. This paper describes how a complexity perspective may be adopted in guideline development to facilitate a more nuanced consideration of a range of factors pertinent to decisions regarding public health and health system interventions. These factors include acceptability and feasibility, and societal, economic, and equity and equality implications of interventions.
A 5-step process describes how to incorporate a complexity perspective in guideline development with examples to illustrate each step. The steps include: (i) guideline scoping, (ii) formulating questions, (iii) retrieving and synthesising evidence, (iv) assessing the evidence, and (v) developing recommendations. Guideline scoping using stakeholder consultations, complexity features, evidence mapping, logic modelling, and explicit decision criteria is emphasised as a key step that informs all subsequent steps.
Through explicit consideration of a range of factors and enhanced understanding of the specific circumstances in which interventions work, a complexity perspective can yield guidelines with better informed recommendations and facilitate local adaptation and implementation. Further work will need to look into the methods of collecting and assessing different types of evidence beyond effectiveness and develop procedural guidance for prioritising across a range of decision criteria.
Implementing evidence-informed population health interventions in new contexts often requires adaptations. While the need to adapt interventions to better fit new contexts is recognised, ...uncertainties remain regarding why and when to adapt (or not), and how to assess the benefits (or not) of adaptation. The ADAPT Study aims to develop comprehensive guidance on adaptation. This scoping review informs guidance development by mapping and exploring how adaptation has been undertaken in practice, in public health and health services research.
We searched seven databases from January 2000 and October 2018 to identify eligible studies for this scoping review and a related systematic review of adaptation guidance. We mapped the studies of adaptation by coding data from all eligible studies describing the methods, contexts, and interventions considered for adaptation. From this map, we selected a sample of studies for in-depth examination. Two reviewers extracted data independently into seven categories: description, key concepts, types, rationale, processes, evaluation methods, evaluation justification, and accounts of failures and successes.
We retrieved 6694 unique records. From 429 records screened at full text, we identified 298 eligible studies for mapping and selected 28 studies for in-depth examination. The majority of studies in our map focused on micro- (i.e., individual-) level interventions (84%), related to transferring an intervention to a new population group within the same country (62%) and did not report using guidance (73%). Studies covered a range of topic areas, including health behaviour (24%), mental health (19%), sexual health (16%), and parenting and family-centred interventions (15%). Our in-depth analysis showed that adaptation is seen to save costs and time relative to developing a new intervention, and to enhance contextual relevance and cultural compatibility. It commonly follows a structured process and involves stakeholders to help with decisions on what to adapt, when, and how.
Adaptation has been undertaken on a range of health topics and largely in line with existing guidance. Significant gaps relate to adaptation of macro- (e.g., national-) level interventions, consideration of programme theories, mechanisms and contexts (i.e., a functional view of interventions), nuances around stakeholder involvement, and evaluation of the adapted interventions. Registration Open Science Framework, 2019, osf.io/udzma.
The performance of a pentacene organic thin film transistor (OTFT) is discussed here where the substrate consists of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) formed from octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) on the ...gate insulator. By changing the substrate from hydrophilic to hydrophobic interface defects are minimized. OTS SAM was studied for two samples according to OTS density 0.5 wt % and 1.0 wt % based on chloroform solution. The water contact angle was measured to investigate OTS growth and distribution. AFM and SEM were used to give organic thin film topography and morphology. The OTFT with 0.5 wt % OTS has a higher mobility and on/off ratio than the OTFT with 1.0 wt % OTS but has an increased threshold voltage. At the same time, the hysteresis at room temperature almost disappeared due to the OTS SAM processing.
Features of the simultaneous action of longitudinal and transverse ultrasonic vibrations in the quartz crystal on the parameters of reflected X-rays are studied. It is shown that this action results ...both in the X-ray acoustic conversion effect, which is an increase in the intensity of radiation diffracted by the crystal at the excitation of transverse vibrations with linear polarization, and in the broadening of the rocking curve, which is due to the formation of a standing wave in the crystal at longitudinal vibrations. It is demonstrated for the first time that several key parameters of X-rays can be simultaneously controlled using a single crystal. Transverse vibrations make it possible to vary the intensity of diffracted radiation, and longitudinal vibrations allow controllable angular rearrangement of the X-ray beam diffracted by the crystal.
Peculiarities of X-ray beam diffraction from potassium and rubidium bi-phthalate piezo crystals under the condition of excitation of transverse ultrasonic vibrations are investigated. Previously, ...under a similar influence in quartz crystals, the effect of X-ray acoustic redistribution was observed, in which the intensity of diffracted radiation in the exact Bragg position increases significantly with a simultaneous decrease in the intensity of the transmitted beam, down to zero for certain parameters for reflecting atomic planes, called the full pumping effect. This effect can be used for controlled tuning of the diffracted beam intensity. In this work, to search for new materials for the creation of elements that allow such a rearrangement, we studied the dependences of the degree of amplification of diffracted radiation on the amplitude of the control signal for potassium and rubidium bi-phthalates crystals. The actual possibility of X-ray intensity modulation using transverse vibrations in these crystals is demonstrated.
An X‐ray diffraction method is developed for the determination of the distribution of temperature and interplanar spacing in a single‐crystal plate. In particular, the temperature and the interplanar ...spacing differences in two different parts of a quartz single crystal of X‐cut are experimentally determined depending on the value of the temperature gradient applied perpendicularly to the reflecting atomic planes (). The temperature distribution along the direction perpendicular to the reflecting atomic planes () and the interplanar spacing distribution of atomic planes () are determined as well.
For better visualization of solvent effects on spin-spin coupling constants (SSCCs) we have investigated some organomercury compounds, which have large solvent induced changes on one-bond C-Hg SSCCs. ...Extra large solvent effects (up to 20% of SSCC value) have been observed, which allow to more carefully examine the peculiarities of SSCC’s solvent and electric field dependencies in various media.
For the creation of an X-ray acoustic monochromator with the possibility of simultaneous control of the intensity and angular position of X-rays, the distributions of the half-width and intensity of ...the peaks of the rocking curve along the surface of a quartz single crystal from reflecting atomic planes (11
0) in the presence of longitudinal and transverse acoustic oscillations have been studied. It is shown that it is possible to simultaneously excite mutually perpendicular acoustic waves in a single crystal resonator while maintaining the ability to control the parameters of the X-ray beam using each of the types of oscillations. In this case, transverse oscillations “along the thickness” of the crystal make it possible to control the intensity of the diffracted radiation, and longitudinal oscillations “along the length” make it possible to carry out a controlled angular adjustment of the diffracted beam.
The aqueous solution with different metal nanoparticles (NPs) characterized by a thermoelastic optical indicator microscope (TEOIM) in microwave range (8–12 GHz). The near-field interaction between ...radiated microwaves and aqueous solution with Ag, Zn, and Fe NPs prepared by a laser ablation process is sensitive to NPs concentration and structural characteristics in the solution at resonant frequency. The examined metal NPs maximum concentrations were 50 µg/L. The measured minimum detectable normalized signal was 0.0547, 0.0381, 0.0333 (µg/L)
–1
and the measured minimum detectable concentration was about 1, 0.7, 0.6 µg/L for the Ag, Zn, Fe, respectively. Such sensitive response of measurement system can be explained not only by the electromagnetic specification variation (complex dielectric permittivity, conductivity etc.) of solution due to change of metal NPs concentration, but also by the additional structural changes in water clusters due to the NPs ablation process. In addition, TEOIM characterization method allows to visualize the electromagnetic field distribution around solution with high spatial resolution in term to investigate the dielectric liquid environment with different type and concentrations of high-conductive NPs.
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