Developing a framework to inform scale-up success for population health interventions:a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature

Background:Population health interventions(PHIs)have the potential to improve the health of large populations by systematically addressing underlying conditions of poor health outcomes(i.e.,social determinants of health)and reducing health inequities.Scaling-up may be one means of enhancing the impact of effective PHIs.However,not all scale-up attempts have been successful.In an attempt to help guide the process of successful scale-up of a PHI,we look to the organizational readiness for change theory for a new perspective on how we may better understand the scale-up pathway.Using the change theory,our goal was to develop the foundations of an evidence-based,theory-informed framework for a PHI,through a critical examination of various PHI scale-up experiences documented in the literature.Methods:We conducted a multi-step,critical interpretive synthesis(CIS)to gather and examine insights from scale-up experiences detailed in peer-reviewed and grey literatures,with a focus on PHIs from a variety of global settings.The CIS included iterative cycles of systematic searching,sampling,data extraction,critiquing,interpreting,coding,reflecting,and synthesizing.Theories relevant to innovations,complexity,and organizational readiness guided our analysis and synthesis.Results:We retained and examined twenty different PHI scale-up experiences,which were extracted from 77 documents(47 peer-reviewed,30 grey literature)published between 1995 and 2013.Overall,we identified three phases(i.e.,Groundwork,Implementing Scale-up,and Sustaining Scale-up),11 actions,and four key components(i.e.,PHI,context,capacity,stakeholders)pertinent to the scale-up process.Our guiding theories provided explanatory power to various aspects of the scale-up process and to scale-up success,and an alternative perspective to the assessment of scale-up readiness for a PHI.Conclusion:Our synthesis provided the foundations of the Scale-up Readiness Assessment Framework.Our theoreticallyinformed and rigorous synthesis methodology permitted identification of disparate processes involved in the successful scaleup of a PHI.Our findings complement the guidance and resources currently available,and offer an added perspective to assessing scale-up readiness for a PHI.

Correction to:Developing a framework to inform scale-up success for population health interventions:a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature

Correction to:Global Health Res Policy(2020)5:18 https://doi.org/10.1186/s41256-020-00141-8 Following the publication of the original article[1],it was noted that due to a typesetting error the Table 3 layout was incorrect.The correct table is given below.The original article has been corrected.