Commentary on “Multilevel communication to improve well-being during a pandemic”

As we pass the year mark on the COVID-19 global pandemic, we sincerely hope you and your family continue to stay safe and well. This year has certainly brought its share of challenges, but new opportunities continue to arise as well. The implementation science articles this month feature the advancements and adaptations necessitated by COVID-19 as well as highlight some of the persistent issues, such as health equity and addressing social determinants of health. Included this month is a nice commentary from Emmons and Chambers on an unexplored strategy to address social determinants of health. In addition, colleagues in the Center for Communication Science at RTI International (Lewis et al.) published a piece on how COVID-19 has compounded health disparities and offer a multilevel approach to further communication interventions focused on mental health. They use the multilevel ecological perspective and suggest how the multiple levels of influence (individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy) each contribute individually and in combination to population health and individual well-being. The authors also illustrate how multilevel communication strategies designed to raise awareness, educate, or motivate informed decision-making or behavior change can address various sources of information surrounding a person to impact mental health outcomes.

There are also examples of articles addressing new developments driven by the pandemic including an article by Christen and colleagues which provides a framework for implementing hospital interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another article (James et al.) reviews opportunities, challenges, and lessons learned in the scale-up, spread, and sustainability of video consultations. There are also examples of specific adaptations of existing evidence-based interventions and practices. For example, a pilot study by Garcia et al. outlines the rapid, full-scale change from a primarily clinic-based Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) model to a virtual service model (i.e., I-PCIT) in an academic and community-based program in Miami, Florida.  

Please enjoy this month’s newsletter and we look forward to continuing to find ways to connect in 2021.

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Mentioned articles:

• Lewis, M. A., Uhrig, J. D., Poehlman, J. A., & Southwell, B. G. (2021). Multilevel communication to improve well-being during a pandemic. Implementation Research and Practice, 2, 2633489520988265.
• Emmons, K. M., & Chambers, D. A. (2021). Policy Implementation Science – An Unexplored Strategy to Address Social Determinants of Health. Ethn Dis, 31(1), 133-138. doi:10.18865/ed.31.1.133
• Christen, P., D’Aeth, J. C., Løchen, A., McCabe, R., Rizmie, D., Schmit, N., . . . Hauck, K. (2021). The J-IDEA Pandemic Planner: A Framework for Implementing Hospital Provision Interventions During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Med Care. doi:10.1097/mlr.0000000000001502
• James, H. M., Papoutsi, C., Wherton, J., Greenhalgh, T., & Shaw, S. E. (2021). Spread, Scale-up, and Sustainability of Video Consulting in Health Care: Systematic Review and Synthesis Guided by the NASSS Framework. J Med Internet Res, 23(1), e23775. doi:10.2196/23775
• Garcia, D., Blizzard, A. M., Peskin, A., Rothenberg, W. A., Schmidt, E., Piscitello, J., . . . Jent, J. F. (2021). Rapid, Full-Scale Change to Virtual PCIT During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implementation and Clinical Implications. Prev Sci, 1-15. doi:10.1007/s11121-021-01211-0