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Table 3 Themes of factors operating as barriers

From: Barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based interventions among third sector organisations: a systematic review

Themes

Times cited

Reliability of findings

Resources

51

 

 Lack of financial resources

13

High reliability

 Lack of staff resources/high staff turnover

11

High reliability

 Lack of time

8

High reliability

 Insufficient space for all services

5

High reliability

 Resources (unspecified)

5

High reliability

 Lack of resources for training

3

High reliability

 Lack of scientific resources

3

Medium reliability

 Lack of technical resources

3

Medium reliability

Client and community factors

37

 

 Recruitment/retention issues

14

High reliability

 Client resistance and non-participation

5

High reliability

 Difficult population

5

High reliability

 Lack of community support/community resistance

4

High reliability

 Client receptiveness and commitment

3

High reliability

 Client (individuals and family) attendance is poor

2

High reliability

 Community resources (including substance abuse treatment) are lacking

2

High reliability

 Stigma

1

Low reliability

 Anonymity issues

1

Low reliability

Delivery capability

33

 

 Implementation difficulty/fidelity issues.

9

High reliability

 Lack of expertise/experience

7

High reliability

 Lack of administrative infrastructure

3

High reliability

 Cultural/language barriers

3

High reliability

 Competing responsibilities

2

Medium reliability

 Supervision issues

2

Medium reliability

 Programme needs

2

Medium reliability

 Delivering the EBI in a rural area

1

Medium reliability

 Scheduling challenges

2

Low reliability

 Strategic planning

1

Low reliability

 Balancing needs between of the CBO and research

1

Low reliability

Organisational culture

32

 

 Conflict with EBI and organisational identify/mission/culture

6

High reliability

 Staff resistance

5

High reliability

 Lack of prioritisation of the EBI/org support

3

High reliability

 Lack of preparation of staff to become evidence based providers

3

High reliability

 Lack of leadership

3

Medium reliability

 Incomplete buy-in from organisation

2

Medium reliability

 Resistance to change (keeping status quo)

2

Medium reliability

 Change in staff and leadership

2

Medium reliability

 Lack of EBI champions

1

Medium reliability

 Lack of belief in the efficacy of the intervention

1

Medium reliability

 Unclear mission of the organisation

1

Medium reliability

 Higher level of stress

1

Medium reliability

 Low cohesion in the organisation

1

Medium reliability

 EBP devaluing existing practices by the TSO

1

Low reliability

Adaptation issues

22

 

 Problems in adapting the EBI

13

High reliability

 Lack of fit between EBI and target population of TSO

7

High reliability

 Conflict between the EBI and expert knowledge of the provider

1

Low reliability

 Not knowing how to communicate adaptation issues

1

Low reliability

Training capacity issues

19

 

 Staff not trained well enough/ Training provided for the EBI not adequate

8

High reliability

 Lack of EBI training

4

High reliability

 Variance in staff training and perspectives

2

Medium reliability

 Lack of training available

1

Low reliability

 Training new staff

1

Low reliability

 Programmes were not packaged for training

1

Low reliability

 Conducting community needs assessments

1

Low reliability

 Proposal development

1

Low reliability

Monitoring issues

10

 

 Not having monitoring practices in place to evidence effectiveness.

4

High reliability

 Data management issues

2

Medium reliability

 Interoperability challenges between systems

1

Medium reliability

 Issues around evaluation and monitoring of implementation

3

Low reliability

Intervention-specific barriers

10

 

 Transportation

3

High reliability

 State education law in conflict with EBI

1

Low reliability

 State law prohibits collection of certain data

1

Low reliability

 State law requires approval by school board and parental review committee

1

Low reliability

 Assessing light versus moderate activity

1

Low reliability

 Incorporating physical activity into the participants’ lifestyle

1

Low reliability

 Geographically dispersed offices made consistent implementation difficult

1

Low reliability

 Logistical issues

1

Low reliability

Commissioning requirements

8

 

 Certification process was burdensome/time consuming

3

High reliability

 Lack of support by funder

2

Medium reliability

 Prohibition on adaptation by funders.

1

Medium reliability

 Funder demand for major modifications to EBI

1

Low reliability

 Funder rejection of modifications to EBI

1

Low reliability

Collaboration issues

6

 

 Hard to establish collaboration agreements

2

Medium reliability

 Lack of strategies for community mobilisation

1

Low reliability

 Lack of integration of services

1

Low reliability

 Hard to find potential academic partners

1

Low reliability

 Assistance in strategies for the development of EBIs

1

Low reliability

Others

3

 

 Competition with other afterschool activities

1

Low reliability

 Development and analysis of public policies

1

Low reliability

 Inability to fund programme partners because of local agency policies

1

Low reliability

Key for reliability ratings*

 High reliability

The identified factor is consistently supported by several studies of medium quality and from one high-quality study, or the study is supported by at least two high-quality studies.

 Medium reliability

The identified factor is supported from several medium-quality studies, or the factor is identified from at least one high-quality study.

 Low reliability

The identified factor is supported by several studies of low quality and/or single studies of medium quality.

  1. *It should be noted that confidence in findings do not relate to the generalisability of the findings