Bridging community-engaged research and implementation science methods to advance public health practice.

Abstract

Addressing public health challenges through equitable, evidence-based strategies remains a pressing global need. Implementation science bridges research and practice, offering methods to improve intervention design, delivery, and evaluation. Concurrently, community-engaged research embeds equity and trust into public health initiatives. This paper introduces selected community engagement methods and related implementation science approaches to address characteristic common constraints in public health practice, illustrated with real-world examples. Adapting the Knowledge to Action framework, we present a discussion of community-engaged methods and accompanying case studies. The discussion follows four phases present in applied public health research: (1) identifying and defining the problem, (2) designing and modifying the intervention, (3) evaluating the intervention, and (4) communicating and disseminating findings. For each phase, we highlight common barriers, recommend methods, and present case studies such as rapid qualitative methods, human-centered design, and participatory data analysis. Case studies demonstrate these methods' effectiveness in addressing common constraints. These approaches ensured that interventions were culturally tailored, contextually relevant, and evidence-based.