Evidence-Informed Decision Making in Public Health

Adapt: Adapt the information to a local context

The fifth step in the Evidence-Informed Decision Making in Public Health process is adapting research evidence to the local context. This step helps you answer the question:

“Can I use this research with my client, community or population?”

Having developed ‘actionable messages’ (i.e., clear recommendations or actions for practice) in the previous step of the evidence-informed decision making in public health process, this step focuses on tailoring those messages to the local context to ensure their relevance and suitability.

This step is crucial to determine if the intervention will be relevant and successful in your community. To adapt evidence to the local context, consider these issues:

  • the public health issue
  • the intervention
  • the local community/intended population
  • the organization and any partners

For more information about adapting interventions to the local context, please review the Adapt section of the Introduction to Evidence-informed Decision Making module.

EIPH Wheel - AdaptImplement Evaluate Define Search Appraise Synthesize

Adapt the information to the local context.

We recommend these resources from the Registry of Methods and Tools to help with this step:

Applicability and Transferability of Evidence Tool (A&T Tool)Applicability and transferability of evidence from a health equity perspective