Planning Approaches
Guidelines for using the Adapted Intervention Mapping (AIM) tool for planning an intervention are provided below. See Setting Priorities for a description of AIM.
Alternative planning approaches are available to help rural community networks identify evidence-based interventions. See the following modules for information on these approaches:
Role of the Community Task Force
The AIM process relies on regular meetings of a community task force. The task force is comprised of network
members that are stakeholders in the target community. For example, members for a school-based obesity
intervention may include representatives from the school administration, teachers, food-service staff, and
parents. The responsibilities of the task force may include:
- Participating in the planning process
- Attending monthly planning meetings
- Completing project-related work outside of meetings
- Making decisions about desired interventions and implementation methods
- Participating in interviews and surveys
- Maintaining a program notebook to document the planning process
- Eventually continuing the intervention process without outside facilitation
Role of the Academic Researcher/Facilitator
AIM is facilitated by researchers who:
- Organize and lead the task force at each meeting
- Accomplish technical aspects of intervention
- Develop products for the task force members to review
- Present relevant research to the task force
Steps in Planning Interventions
During regular meetings, task force members contribute their skills and knowledge to plan the intervention.
Figure 2-4 presents an overview of key planning steps to be accomplished through task force meetings.
| Process | Task Force Member Roles | Facilitator Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Map assets and assess needs | Take photographs of surroundings Discuss behaviors and factors that may contribute to obesity in the community Discuss behaviors and factors that may contribute to healthy behaviors |
|
| Decide which environmental and policy changes are desired | Use information generated to brainstorm potential
interventions Complete a changeability worksheet (Table 2-1) to rank change targets Vote on which changes to implement |
Share national guidelines, recommendations and best practices |
| Review logistics | Who can make this change happen? What are steps to enact the change? What barriers might be encountered? How can task members act and change environments to implement the change? |
|
| Arrange subcommittees | Divide into subcommittees Set timelines. May conduct pilot tests of the intervention |
|
| Discuss program evaluation | Identify process and outcome evaluation design and measures Anticipate the data desired by funders and stakeholders |
|
| Discuss program adoption | Discuss how to generate knowledge and enthusiasm for the intervention |