Systems Matter: Why Systems Thinking is Essential for Bridging the Mental Health Research Implementation Gap
Too often, research produces interventions that are difficult to scale. This is frustrating for researchers, funders, and critically, those poised to benefit from these interventions. So, how can we bridge the implementation gap?
At the heart of this question is the challenge of how to connect research evidence to real world settings – that is, how to produce actionable evidence. We’ve been exploring this in depth through a series of online symposia inspired by The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Transforming Mental Health Implementation Research.
The symposia look into (1) how systems thinking can transform implementation, (2) exploring what we mean by evidence and (3) implementation through the lens of the information needed by decision-makers.
Key take-aways:
- Systems thinking is really about people: knowing who to involve, and how to do this meaningfully in a structured, dynamic and long-term way.
- Systems thinking means the whole system, not just the health system – we need to include the touch points across different aspects of life, community, and the wider socioeconomic and sociopolitical context.
- We need to prioritise bottom-up solutions and strategies that are culturally sensitive and contextually relevant and developed by stakeholders who have firsthand knowledge of system challenges.
- What a researcher might think of as evaluation might not be what decision makers and communities actually need or want. How can we co-create meaningful approaches to evaluation together?
- The power of proactively embedding a collaborative, cross-disciplinary learning culture – thinking about values, influential leadership and supportive governance. We need to create spaces that break down silos, and build networks, between researchers, implementers, contexts and regions.
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