The application of complex interventions in the area of public health, clinical research and education is becoming increasingly widespread. The effectiveness of complex interventions may be affected by numerous factors due to the complexity of interventions, intervention pathways or the context of implementation. Therefore, it is significantly important to evaluate the process of complex interventions, which will provide information to understand the implementation of interventions. The British Medical Research Council’s process evaluation guidelines provide a framework for implementing and reporting on process evaluation research. This paper aims to interpret the guide in detail on complex intervention and process evaluation for the references of domestic researchers.
Complex interventions are commonly used in health and social care services, public health practice, and other areas of social and economic policy that have consequences for health. Due to the multiple components of interventions, the complicated mechanisms of change, the diversity of the population involved, and the interaction between the intervention and the context in which it is implemented, the appropriate development and evaluation of complex interventions has become increasingly critical. The UK Medical Research Council published a framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions. The aim of this article is to introduce and interpret the framework to provide guidance on the development and evaluation of complex interventions for domestic researchers.