This is a model for planning, executing, and evaluating efforts to implement population-level changes in the health and well-being of older adults. RE-AIM stands for Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance. It’s designed to help state and local leaders understand the prevalence of behavioral health problems, and assist program leaders in selecting, implementing, and assessing effective prevention and early intervention programs and practices.
Deeper dive
The goal of RE-AIM is to encourage stakeholders to identify essential elements that improve the implementation and sustainability of programs and practices:
- Reach the target population.
- Effectiveness or efficacy.
- Adoption by target staff, settings, or institutions.
- Implementation consistency, costs and adaptions made during delivery.
- Maintenance of intervention effects in individuals and settings over time.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, (SAMHSA) and Administration on Aging (AoA), paying attention to the RE-AIM elements increases the likelihood of improving the health of the entire population. Organizations that successfully implement evidence-based practices are attentive to and perform well in the five RE-AIM elements.
Encouraging stakeholders to pay more attention to essential program elements will also pay off with the sustainable adoption and implementation of effective, generalizable, evidence-based interventions. In contrast to the availability of information regarding intervention efficacy, there is no widely-available systematic framework to evaluate potential for translation and public health impact. Since its launch 20 years ago, RE-AIM has evolved over time. A 2022 study looks at the history of RE-AIM, summarizes how the model has evolved over time, and identifies and corrects several misconceptions.