ORIGINAL PAPER Practical Implementation Science: Developing and Piloting the Quality Implementation Tool Duncan C.Meyers • Jason Katz • Victoria Chien • Abraham Wandersman • Jonathan P.Scaccia • Annie Wright Published online: 23 May 2012 Ó Society for Community Research and Action 2012 Abstract According to the Interactive Systems Frame- work for Dissemination and Implementation, implementa- tion is a major mechanism and concern in bridging research and practice. The growingnumberof implementation frameworks need to be synthesized and translated so that the science and practice of quality implementation can be furthered. In this article,we: (1) usethesynthesisof frameworks developed by Meyers et al. (Am J Commun Psychol, 2012)and translate the results into a practical implementation science tool to use for improving quality of implementation (i.e., the Quality Implementation Tool; QIT), and (2) present some of the benefits and limitations of the tool by describing how the QIT was implemented in two different pilot projects. We discuss how the QIT can be used to guidecollaborativeplanning,monitoring, and evaluation of how an innovation is implemented. Keywords Implementation Knowledge utilization Practical implementation science Implementation tool Interactive Systems Framework Introduction The science of putting ideas into action—the science of implementation—has progressed rapidly in recent years (e.g.,the development of a journal ‘‘Implementation Sci- ence’’, annual National Institutes of Health Conferences on the Science of Implementation and Dissemination). Evi- dence linking implementation to positive outcomes underscores its importance (Durlak and DuPre 2008), and implementation has received heightened attention as a mechanism to lessen the persistent gap between research and practice (e.g., Fixsen etal. 2005;Wandersman et al. 2008).Empirical support for the important role of imple- mentation suggests that if evidence-based programs are n implemented with quality, they are not likely to result in the same outcomes thatwere observed in efficacy and effectiveness studies (e.g., Dubois et al. 2002; Durlak and DuPre 2008;Gottfredson and Gottfredson 2002; Smith et al. 2004). Simply put, if we want to achieve outcomes, we have to be able to implement with quality. Narrowing the gap between implementation in research settingsand implementation of programs in everyday practice is an endeavor that can impact diverse fields of study. The purpose of this article is to discuss a tool called the Quality Implementation Tool (QIT); it was developed and piloted to assist stakeholders in communities/organi- zationsin theireffortsto implement with quality.The content of this toolwas derived from the Quality Imple- mentation Framework, which is a synthesis of 25 imple- mentation frameworks (Meyers et al. 2012).The Quality Implementation Framework helped us determine the com- ponents of quality implementation. To help inform theory and action regarding who needs to work together to build the capacity to implement with quality,we used the interactivesystemsframeworkfordissemination and implementation (ISF) (Wandersman et al. 2008).The ISF helped us put the QIT in context including considerations for practitioners, funders, and researchers/evaluators. This articlewill describehow we have deepened the ISF emphasis on implementation in our on-going efforts to promote quality implementation. To achieve this purpose, we will(1) define quality implementation; (2) discuss the role of quality implementation in the ISF; (3) describe the D. C. Meyers (&) J. Katz V. Chien A. Wandersman J. P. Scaccia A.Wright University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA e-mail: meyersd@mailbox.sc.edu 123 Am J Community Psychol (2012) 50:481–496 DOI 10.1007/s10464-012-9521-y