Enhancing the implementation of the Making Every Contact Count brief behavioural intervention programme in Ireland - the 'Making MECC Work' project
Creators: name: Meade, Oonagh
name: O'Brien, Maria
name: Mc Sharry, Jenny
name: Lawless, Agatha
name: Coughlan, Sandra
name: Hart, Jo
name: Hayes, Catherine
name: Keyworth, Chris
name: Lavoie, Kim
name: Murphy, Andrew
name: Murphy, Patrick
name: Noone, Chris
name: O'Reilly, Orlaith
name: Byrne, Molly
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Medicine and Health Sciences
subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences
subject: Brief Interventions; Making Every Contact Count; Protocol; health psychology; behavioural science

description: Abstract Background: Brief behavioural interventions offered by healthcare professionals to patients targeting health behavioural risk factors (e.g. physical activity, diet, smoking and drug and alcohol use) can positively impact patient health outcomes. The Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) Making Every Contact Count (MECC) Programme was established to support healthcare professionals to discuss health behavioural risk factors with patients and offer brief opportunistic interventions during routine healthcare consultations. The potential of MECC to positively impact public health is dependent on its uptake by healthcare professionals and successful implementation. Implementing a national behaviour change programme can be challenging. In addition, evidence on patient experience and attitudes towards receiving this type of brief behavioural intervention is limited. The Making MECC work project was established to develop an evidence base for enhancing the implementation of the MECC brief behavioural intervention programme in Ireland. Aim: This protocol outlines a collaborative programme between the Health Behaviour Change Research Group and the HSE which aims to develop an implementation strategy to optimise uptake of MECC in the Irish Health Service. The Making MECC Work research programme will answer three research questions: (1) What determines delivery of MECC brief interventions by healthcare professionals at individual and organisational levels? (2) What are patient attitudes towards, and experiences of, receiving MECC brief interventions from healthcare professionals? (3) What evidence-informed implementation strategy options can be consensually developed with key stakeholders to optimise MECC implementation? Methods: The research programme has three work packages. In Work Package 1, we will examine determinants of MECC delivery by healthcare professionals using a multi-methods approach to include: (WP1.1) a national survey of healthcare professionals who have participated in MECC eLearning training and (WP1.2) a qualitative interview study with healthcare professionals and HSE staff who have a role in supporting MECC implementation. In Work Package 2, we will examine patient attitudes towards, and experiences of, MECC using qualitative interviews with patients. In Work Package 3, we will combine our findings from Work Packages 1 and 2 using the Behaviour Change Wheel approach to identify and develop testable implementation strategy options (WP 3.1). These strategies will then be refined and prioritised using a consensus process with key stakeholders to develop a collaborative implementation blueprint to optimise and scale-up MECC (WP3.2). Discussion: The outputs from this programme of research are expected to positively impact on the delivery of MECC by developing an evidence-based implementation blueprint to support the integration of brief behaviour change interventions into the Irish health system. The findings will also inform the scale-up of behaviour change interventions internationally.