Table 2 Fidelity assessment challenges at different stages
From: Fidelity is not easy! Challenges and guidelines for assessing fidelity in complex interventions
Stage of fidelity assessment challenge: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Trial planning | Trial conduct | Post-trial | |
Fidelity assessment challenge | (1) Identification/development of approaches/tools | (2) Application of the fidelity approaches | (3) Analysis and interpretation of fidelity data |
1. Developing succinct tools to measure fidelity | ✓✓✓ | ✓✓ | ✓ |
2. Deciding which components of fidelity to emphasize | ✓✓✓ | ✓✓ | |
3. Unit of analysis considerations in group-level interventions | ✓✓✓ | ✓✓ | ✓ |
4. The missing data problem | ✓✓✓ | ✓✓✓ | |
5. Responding to, and treating, fidelity ‘failures’ and ‘deviations ‘and a lack of an overall fidelity assessment scheme | ✓✓✓ | ||
6. Ensuring that fidelity assessment does not threaten internal validity | ✓✓✓ | ✓ | |