Implementation in a Changing Landscape: Provider Experiences During Rapid Scaling of Use of Evidence-Based Treatments

This study examined 133 service providers’ perspectives on a rapid shift to mandated evidence-based treatment delivery, utilizing an inductive coding process to capture themes present in their qualitative feedback. The majority of provider comments were negatively valenced, but attitudes varied considerably across response categories: comments regarding practice context and support were nearly uniformly negative, while comments regarding treatment fit and therapeutic consequences were more balanced. Treatment fit was the most commonly cited category; the fit to therapist (e.g., ease of use) subcategory was predominantly positive in contrast with the fit to client (e.g., flexibility) subcategory, which was predominantly negative. Results illustrate the intended and unintended consequences of large-scale implementation efforts on community providers, and may aid implementation researchers and system decision makers optimize the conditions under which community providers are asked to implement evidence-based treatment.