TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘Mind the gaps’: the accessibility and implementation of an effective depression relapse prevention programme in UK NHS services

T2 - learning from mindfulness-based cognitive therapy through a mixed-methods study

AU - Rycroft-Malone, Jo

AU - Gradinger, Felix

AU - Owen Griffiths, Heledd

AU - Anderson, Rob

AU - Crane, Rebecca

AU - Gibson, Andy

AU - Mercer, Stewart

AU - Kukyen, Willem

PY - 2019/9/8

Y1 - 2019/9/8

N2 - Objectives Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an evidence-based approach for people at risk of depressive relapse to support their long-term recovery.However, despite its inclusion in guidelines, there is an ‘implementation cliff’. The study objective was to develop a better explanation of what facilitates MBCTimplementation.Setting UK primary and secondary care mental health services.Design, participants and methods A national two-phase, multi-method qualitative study was conducted, whichwas conceptually underpinned by the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework. Phase I involved interviews with stakeholders from 40 service providers about current provision of MBCT. PhaseII involved 10 purposively sampled case studies to obtain a more detailed understanding of MBCT implementation.Data were analysed using adapted framework analysis, refined through stakeholder consultation.Results Access to MBCT is variable across the UK services. Where available, services have adapted MBCT to fit their context by integrating it into their care pathways.Evidence was often important to implementation but took different forms: the NICE depression guideline, audits, evaluations, first person accounts, experiential taster sessions and pilots. These were used to build a platformfrom which to develop MBCT services. The most important aspect of facilitation was the central role of the MBCT implementers. These were generally self-designated individuals who ‘championed’ grass-roots implementation.Our explanatory framework mapped out a prototypical implementation journey, often over many years with a balance of bottom-up and top-down factors influencing the fit of MBCT into service pathways. ‘Pivot points’ in the implementation journey provided windows of either challenge or opportunity.Conclusions This is one of the largest systematic studies of the implementation of a psychological therapy. While access to MBCT across the UK is improving, it remains patchy. The resultant explanatory framework about MBCT implementation provides a heuristic that informed an implementation resource.

AB - Objectives Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an evidence-based approach for people at risk of depressive relapse to support their long-term recovery.However, despite its inclusion in guidelines, there is an ‘implementation cliff’. The study objective was to develop a better explanation of what facilitates MBCTimplementation.Setting UK primary and secondary care mental health services.Design, participants and methods A national two-phase, multi-method qualitative study was conducted, whichwas conceptually underpinned by the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework. Phase I involved interviews with stakeholders from 40 service providers about current provision of MBCT. PhaseII involved 10 purposively sampled case studies to obtain a more detailed understanding of MBCT implementation.Data were analysed using adapted framework analysis, refined through stakeholder consultation.Results Access to MBCT is variable across the UK services. Where available, services have adapted MBCT to fit their context by integrating it into their care pathways.Evidence was often important to implementation but took different forms: the NICE depression guideline, audits, evaluations, first person accounts, experiential taster sessions and pilots. These were used to build a platformfrom which to develop MBCT services. The most important aspect of facilitation was the central role of the MBCT implementers. These were generally self-designated individuals who ‘championed’ grass-roots implementation.Our explanatory framework mapped out a prototypical implementation journey, often over many years with a balance of bottom-up and top-down factors influencing the fit of MBCT into service pathways. ‘Pivot points’ in the implementation journey provided windows of either challenge or opportunity.Conclusions This is one of the largest systematic studies of the implementation of a psychological therapy. While access to MBCT across the UK is improving, it remains patchy. The resultant explanatory framework about MBCT implementation provides a heuristic that informed an implementation resource.

U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026244

DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026244

M3 - Journal article

VL - 9

JO - BMJ Open

JF - BMJ Open

SN - 2044-6055

M1 - 026244

ER -