Summary:

Proceedings of the Fifth Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2019: where the rubber meets the road: the intersection of research, policy, and practice – part 1

Introduction: The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) evolved as a society following a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference grant (NIMH 1R13MH086159-01A1, PI Comtois) and has continued to develop as an international society [1]. At the 5th biennial conference held in in Seattle, WA, USA, on September 12–14, 2019, we announced that we had incorporated SIRC as an entity and obtained non-profit status with generous assistance from the Business Innovations Clinic at the University of Arkansas Little Rock, Bowen School of Law. SIRC’s goal is to improve the implementation of effective practices in behavioral health, health, and social care, notably through collaboration among communities, researchers, purveyors of evidence-based practices, practitioners, and policy makers. To include and support a variety of member types, SIRC created Networks of Expertise (NoE). These networks include the Student, New Investigator, Established Investigator, Practitioner, and Mechanisms NoE. Each NoE focuses on activities relevant to their members, such as pairing Students with New or New with Established Investigator mentors, hosting office hours to share expertise, and developing conference content relevant to their interests. Conference activities related to the NoEs are highlighted throughout this summary.

The 2019 conference, entitled “Where the Rubber Meets the Road: The Intersection of Research, Policy, and Practice,” brought together 432 attendees from across the globe with interests in implementation research, policy, and practice within and outside of academia. The conference theme was inspired by a discussion during a breakout session at a prior SIRC conference. One of the practitioner attendees suggested that SIRC further emphasize how researchers take what they learn from implementation science and better collaborate with practitioners to apply the concepts on the ground. This participant referred to this as “where the rubber meets the road.” The robust conversation that followed seeded our 2019 conference theme. This theme was operationalized within the 2019 conference through intentional programmatic structuring that provided ample opportunities for dialogue. For example, time was allocated in each conference breakout session and plenary to facilitate dialogue and cross-collaboration between researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and students. Lunch sessions and social events provided more possibilities for casual discussion and exchanges of ideas. The main conference reception intentionally followed ignite presentations (described below) to enable timely interactions between speakers and conference attendees. We also scheduled a longer poster session and grouped posters thematically to enable interest groups to form. Plenary presentations were selected that highlighted the conference theme and the conference committee included the conference theme as one of the review criteria to prioritize selection of symposium and papers for the conference that were aligned.

Authors: Landes, Sara J Kerns, Suzanne E U; Pilar, Meagan R; Walsh-Bailey, Callie; Yu, Stephanie H; Byeon, Y. Vivian; Crane, Margaret E; Larson, Madeline; Bullock, Heather L; Baumann, Ana A; Comtois, Katherine Anne; Darnell, Doyanne; Dorsey, Shannon; Fizur, Phil; Lewis, Cara C; Moullin, Joanna C; Pierson, Andria; Powell, Byron J; Stanick, Cameo F; Stirman, Shannon Wiltsey; Franks Robert P