Intervention

What is an Intervention?

An intervention is a planned process to achieve an outcome. Interventions, such as those within home visiting, have three main parts – content, delivery, and tailoring.[1] 

Content refers to the planned actions to improve an outcome and how often those actions take place. It has two aspects: techniques and dose.

• Techniques are intentional, observable, replicable actions by a provider to improve an outcome. Examples of techniques a home visitor might use include setting goals, demonstrating how to perform a behavior, and providing information.
• Dose refers to the frequency or intensity of the actions. Examples include the number of visits and how often they occur, and the frequency and amount of time spent using a particular technique to promote selected behaviors to improve an outcome.  

Delivery refers to the planned characteristics of how an intervention is provided to participants. It has four aspects: schedule, style, mode, and source.

• Schedule refers to the timing of intervention content. Examples include the order in which content is delivered and when a particular component of the intervention is expected to begin or end.
• Style refers to the manner in which an intervention is delivered. Examples include an intervention’s focus on assets versus risks, its reliance on shared versus provider-driven decision-making, and its complexity as reflected, for example, in reading level and depth of information in materials provided.     
• Mode refers to the physical or informational medium for delivering an intervention. For example, mode can be specified by whether information is delivered through in-person or virtual interaction, or by printed or electronic materials, and by whether information sharing occurs in real time or asynchronously.
• Source refers to who delivers an intervention. It includes the specific individuals who serve as providers – their occupational role, sociodemographic attributes, relatedness with the population served, expertise, and role in providing the intervention – and the organizations with which they are affiliated.

Tailoring refers to intentional variation in intervention content, delivery, or both. Ideally, how to tailor is determined by evidence of what works best, for whom. Interventions can be designed to be the same for all or designed to be varied across individuals or families.

How HARC is Developing Intervention Taxonomies

A taxonomy is a comprehensive menu of options organized in ways that make sense to users and expressed using a clear, shared set of terms. HARC is developing taxonomies to specify intervention techniques, delivery, and tailoring to make it easy for those with an interest in home visiting to communicate with one another in designing and testing interventions. In this way, the taxonomies will accelerate shared learning to strengthen home visiting’s role in promoting overall population health and health equity.

Our process for building taxonomies takes time. We begin with evidence from existing literature and build on this with rounds of input from interested groups such as families, local program staff, model representatives, and researchers. The goal is to create resources that are clear, comprehensive, and useful for all with an interest in home visiting. As we take on this task, we will provide updates on progress, access to preliminary and interim products, and continued opportunities for input from the field.

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[1] Conceptualization and definitions adapted from Michie, S., West, R., Finnerty, A.N., et al. (2021). Representation of behaviour change interventions and their evaluation: Development of the Upper Level of the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology. Wellcome open research, 5, 123.