Expanding the use of configurational analysis in health research

Regenstrief Institute Research Scientist Edward Miech, EdD, is working to expand the use of configurational analysis in health research. He played a significant role in one of the first studies to apply configurational analysis to evaluate implementation outcomes related to health promotion activities outside of traditional healthcare settings.

Dr. Miech was the configurational analyst for the "Evaluation of Organizational Capacity in the Implementation of a Church-Based Cancer Education Program" article. The study is published in the new implementation science journal Global Implementation Research and Applications.

The goal of the research was to identify specific features of organizational capacity that uniquely distinguished churches with implementation success from those that were less successful. Configurational analysis was used to identify determinants of effective implementation, and findings to support the significant role of organizational capacity. The configurational approach with Coincidence Analysis was a major strength of the study because it allowed for systematic analysis of a group of 13 African-American churches, a sample size too small for traditional statistical analysis.

The results of this study can be used to inform future church-based health promotion activities, and work toward bettering health initiatives in other community organizations with limited resources.