Selecting theoretical approaches

Despite their potential benefits, theories, models and frameworks (TMFs) are often underused, superficially used or misused in implementation science. This may relate to the large number of criteria that implementation scientists use to select TMFs, with little consensus on which are the most important aspects to consider. Further, TMFs are often selected haphazardly or based on convenience or prior exposure. The tendency to use convenient or familiar TMFs may create silos in implementation science, limiting our ability to generalize findings, promote shared understanding and advance the field. T-CaST (Theory Comparison and Selection Tool) was developed to facilitate implementation researchers’ selection of TMFs by making criteria for selection explicit. Using T-CaST may reduce fragmentation in the literature and address the underuse of TMFs in implementation science, limit superficial use of TMFs, and it may curb the proliferation of TMFs by prompting users to consider existing TMFs.