Fitting Health Promotion Research with Real-Life Conditions: Viability Evaluation
Résumé
Health promotion research is largely influenced by the biomedical model, which is poorly adapted to the study of complex interventions. According to Chen (2010), this approach "reduces that evaluation's usefulness and contributes to the gulf between academic and practical communities regarding interventions". Chen argued that integrative validity, including the concept of viable validity, represents a paradigm shift. The question of operationalizing this concept arises both in terms of its role in the development phases of a complex intervention and in the dimensions it encompasses. The present chapter seeks to operationalize and illustrate this concept and its interest by examining several of our team’s projects.
Viability studies aim to determine the conditions in which an innovative intervention can dovetail with real life conditions and hence be transferred or scaled up. To prevent the development of "off the field" interventions and respond to the challenges of population health intervention research, a viability study should be considered as early as possible in the innovation process, starting with the pilot study. In PHIR, pilot studies concern the preparation of trials and/or interventions, and have a key role in the innovation process.