What happens to a pragmatic trial intervention after the study ends?

In a new article from the NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory, investigators from 6 of the program's completed pragmatic clinical trials summarize the posttrial interpretation of their trials' results and consider the factors that influenced the sustainment or de-implementation of the studies' interventions.

The article was published online ahead of print this month in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Three lessons emerged from the review:

• Ineffective interventions may be sustained if they have other measured or perceived benefits.
• Effective interventions may not be sustained if they require significant resources.
• Alignment with policy incentives is essential for achieving sustainment and scale-up of effective interventions.

Based on the experiences of the 6 case studies, the authors offer several recommendations to assist pragmatic trials researchers in considering the posttrial sustainment or de-implementation of their study interventions.

Read the full article.

This work was produced by members of the NIH Collaboratory's Implementation Science Core. The case studies in the article are from the ABATE Infection, LIRE, PPACT, PROVEN, STOP-CRC, and TSOS trials. Learn more about the NIH Collaboratory Trials.