The Process of Planning for and Selecting Interventions

This section provides information for administrators both at the local and state level in planning and selecting evidence-based practices to be incorporated into a service provider organization or into a service system.  In planning to incorporate evidence-based treatments into a service system, there are several important considerations; prior demonstrations have shown that:

• The first step is to determine the needs of the target population and to identify potential evidence-based and promising practices that might address these needs;
• Second, the environment must be assessed for community willingness and consensus, capability of the workforce (i.e., training level of potential practitioners in the community), and the capability of the provider system to implement and sustain EBPs (i.e., type and number of providers);
• Third, an organizational readiness assessment of service provider organizations will identify key characteristics that are necessary for implementing an evidence-based practice with new requirements for training, supervision, and measuring fidelity and outcomes;
• Fourth, the financial readiness of both the system and the service provider organizations should be assessed to identify funding and reimbursement mechanisms;
• Finally, decision-making criteria should be developed to assist with the selection of evidence-based practices to be implemented.

The sections contained here present the main points that should be considered in each area and provide resources and tools that can be accessed for additional information.