Course Information
CHI
7,5 ECTS
2026-06-02
Other Courses
English
20
2026
Development and adaptation of Complex Healthcare Interventions
Course Leader
Joanne Woodford
Department
Department of Women's and Children's Health
Weeks
v.36-v.43
Location
Signifikansen, MTC-huset
Duration
8 weeks
Description
The overall goal of the course is to build a basic understanding of how to develop and/or adapt complex health care interventions following the UK Medical Research Council’s Complex Interventions Framework. The course is especially suited to those who want to develop and/or adapt complex healthcare interventions that are optimized for implementation into real-world healthcare settings. The course will also have a focus on using participatory approaches, e.g., public contribution and co-design/co-production.
The course is designed around the key actions to be considered when developing and/or adapting a complex healthcare intervention (O’Cathain et al., 2019) including (1) planning the development process; (2) involving interest-holders; (3) evidence synthesis; (4) drawing upon theories and articulating the programme theory and logic model; (5) collecting qualitative and quantitative data; (6) understanding the context; and (7) paying attention to future implementation. Further, the course will provide students with a simple toolkit to facilitate the application of the knowledge they have gained in their research.
The course is designed around the key actions to be considered when developing and/or adapting a complex healthcare intervention (O’Cathain et al., 2019) including (1) planning the development process; (2) involving interest-holders; (3) evidence synthesis; (4) drawing upon theories and articulating the programme theory and logic model; (5) collecting qualitative and quantitative data; (6) understanding the context; and (7) paying attention to future implementation. Further, the course will provide students with a simple toolkit to facilitate the application of the knowledge they have gained in their research.
Learning Outcomes
After completing the course, the students should be able to:
• Define what a complex healthcare intervention is;
• Understand the key actions involved in developing and/or adapting interventions, following the MRC’s Complex Interventions Framework;
• Identify and apply appropriate strategies for meaningfully involving multiple interest holders, including members of the public, in intervention development;
• Understand how to conduct an evidence synthesis to inform the development and/or adaptation of an intervention;
• Use relevant theories and frameworks to articulate the intervention programme theory and logic model;
• Design appropriate quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research studies to inform the development and/or adaptation of an intervention;
• Plan how to collect data to understand the context in which the intervention will be used and how to inform the adaptation of interventions for other contexts;
• Identify and apply approaches to optimize the future implementation potential of an intervention
• Define what a complex healthcare intervention is;
• Understand the key actions involved in developing and/or adapting interventions, following the MRC’s Complex Interventions Framework;
• Identify and apply appropriate strategies for meaningfully involving multiple interest holders, including members of the public, in intervention development;
• Understand how to conduct an evidence synthesis to inform the development and/or adaptation of an intervention;
• Use relevant theories and frameworks to articulate the intervention programme theory and logic model;
• Design appropriate quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research studies to inform the development and/or adaptation of an intervention;
• Plan how to collect data to understand the context in which the intervention will be used and how to inform the adaptation of interventions for other contexts;
• Identify and apply approaches to optimize the future implementation potential of an intervention
Content
The course comprises a series of lectures and seminars. Seminars will facilitate activity-based learning, such as class discussions, case studies, debates, peer review, role-play, and simulated data collection exercises. Interactional seminars are designed to help students apply the knowledge gained during the course to their research.
Instructions
The course will be delivered as a hybrid course. Students located at Uppsala University will be expected to attend in person in Uppsala. Students located outside of Uppsala University can attend online.
Active participation at all occasions is required. Students are expected to prepare well before all teaching sessions and read three core articles before each seminar.
Active participation at all occasions is required. Students are expected to prepare well before all teaching sessions and read three core articles before each seminar.
Examination
Poster session: Each student will individually create a Poster to present during teaching session 7. Students should develop a logic model for the intervention based on the complex intervention they plan to /have developed in their research. During the poster session, each student will have five minutes to present their logic model, followed by a followed by a five minutes discussion. The Poster session is an opportunity for students to present their ideas and gain feedback on how to develop logic models.
Examination paper: Each student will individually write a paper presenting a research proposal for the development and/or adaptation of a complex intervention. The proposal will need to include a literature review to justify the need for the intervention, a plan for involving interest-holders, a proposed logic model for the intervention, and propose a series of research studies to inform the development of the intervention. Students will be provided a separate template for the paper according to what a funding application template could actually look like, including headings and specified number of characters.
The paper will be around 6 pages (approximately 3-4000 words) + references. Students send the paper to each other for peer review. Each student will be the main reviewer on one proposal
Examination paper: Each student will individually write a paper presenting a research proposal for the development and/or adaptation of a complex intervention. The proposal will need to include a literature review to justify the need for the intervention, a plan for involving interest-holders, a proposed logic model for the intervention, and propose a series of research studies to inform the development of the intervention. Students will be provided a separate template for the paper according to what a funding application template could actually look like, including headings and specified number of characters.
The paper will be around 6 pages (approximately 3-4000 words) + references. Students send the paper to each other for peer review. Each student will be the main reviewer on one proposal
Literature
See Reading list in attached Course Plan
Course literature detailed is subject to change as will be updated, where appropriate, with more current resources prior to the course being run
Course literature detailed is subject to change as will be updated, where appropriate, with more current resources prior to the course being run
Teachers
Joanne Woodford