Designing effective nursing interventions

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present issues scientists must consider to design effective experimental interventions. The efforts of nurse-researchers to test diverse interventions are consistent with the central role of interventions for the nursing discipline. Despite the importance of interventions, limited literature has addressed the actual design of these interventions. Many experimental interventions lack content validity, and others are inadequate to affect outcomes. Eight issues to consider in the development of interventions are discussed, including the conceptual basis of the intervention, descriptive research linking key concepts to the proposed outcome, previous intervention literature testing similar or related interventions, the intervention target, intervention specificity/generality, single or bundled interventions, intervention delivery, and intervention dose. Strategies are recommended for designing effective experimental interventions.