The purpose of adaptation in brief
- To improve a psychosocial intervention’s fit with the context it will be used in.
- To maintain the effectiveness of the intervention when it is adapted.
- To take into account the needs of clients and professionals when the intervention is adapted.
- To support implementation of evidence-based interventions
Why is adaptation important?
Effective psychosocial interventions can help to support the socio-emotional development
of children and prevent and treat mental health challenges. However, the implementation
of interventions has not always gone without difficulties in services for children and
adolescents.
According to studies, one reason for this is that the needs of clients and the professionals
who use the intervention are not adequately taken into account in the development and
implementation of interventions. This is an example of a problem that the planned
adaptation of an intervention addresses!
The aim of adaptation is to improve the context-fit of an intervention with regard to the
clients, professionals and the service system, while maintaining its effectiveness.
Adaptation combines research-based information on an intervention’s mechanisms of
change with practical experience-based information on its context-fit. Latter information is
accumulated through the work of professionals and the experiences of clients. Studies
indicate that interventions adapted to a new context can be more effective than
interventions that are implemented without adaptation.
In Finland, there are limited opportunities to develop and study entirely new psychosocial
interventions. This makes it prudent to take advantage of effective evidence-based
interventions developed in other countries and adapt them to the local context. This saves
time and resources while ensuring that children and adolescents are provided with
effective support for mental health.
The adaptation of an intervention should be a collaborative effort
The questions related to adaptation concern different professionals in different ways:
- Professionals who use the intervention possess valuable knowledge about its fit with the context of their work, and this information can be used in adaptation. At the same time, it would be important for professionals to recognise which components of the intervention are flexible (meaning which components can be tailored to clients’ needs). This tailoring should be distinguished from adaptation. Instead, it represents the individual customisation of the intervention.
- The intermediary organisation often obtains information on adaptation needs from clients, professionals who use the intervention, and people who provide guidance and training in the use of the intervention. All of this information can be utilised in the adaptation of the intervention.
- A research team can, for example, identify the need for adaptation of an intervention when it is planning to conduct a study in Finland on an intervention developed elsewhere.
With this in mind, it is advisable to establish a multidisciplinary adaptation team for the
planning and conducting of adaptation, consisting of, for example, professionals who use
the intervention, researchers, clients and the intermediary organisation, if necessary. This
allows the views and observations of different professionals to be taken into account in the
adaptation of the intervention. Find out more about how adaptation can be conducted in practice.
Video: What is adaptation about? Professor Graham Moore answers (1 minute)
Professor Graham Moore works at the University of Cardiff. Together with his research teams, he has focused on adaptation and implementation research on psychosocial interventions, for example.
Why does Itla promote adaptation?
Itla’s goal is to stimulate national discussion and cooperation on the need to adapt
interventions and to increase research-based adaptation expertise in Finland.
We provide information on identifying adaptation needs and related
risks, as well as research-based tools for adaptation.
We also communicate the importance of adaptation to decision-makers. Information
increases understanding and helps to promote the wellbeing of children and adolescents
in a changing world.
We are interested in engaging international collaboration on the adaptation of
psychosocial interventions for children, adolescents and families – feel free to
contact us anytime!