Building trusting relationships to support implementation: A proposed theoretical model

Allison Metz; Todd Jensen; Amanda Farley; Annette Boaz; Leah Bartley; Melissa Villodas

doi:10.3389/frhs.2022.894599

Building trusting relationships to support implementation: A proposed theoretical model

Front Health Serv. 2022 Sep 23:2:894599. doi: 10.3389/frhs.2022.894599. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Allison Metz¹, Todd Jensen¹, Amanda Farley¹, Annette Boaz², Leah Bartley¹, Melissa Villodas¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
² London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.

Abstract

This paper presents a theory of change that articulates (a) proposed strategies for building trust among implementation stakeholders and (b) the theoretical linkages between trusting relationships and implementation outcomes. The theory of change describes how trusting relationships cultivate increases in motivation, capability, and opportunity for supporting implementation among implementation stakeholders, with implications for commitment and resilience for sustained implementation, and ultimately, positive implementation outcomes. Recommendations related to the measurement of key constructs in the theory of change are provided. The paper highlights how the development of a testable causal model on trusting relationships and implementation outcomes can provide a bridge between implementation research and implementation practice.

Keywords: implementation practice; implementation science; relationships; theory of change; trust.