Background: Health services seeking to improve their HP practice often face challenges in selecting and embedding promising HP tools and programs. A recent review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health promotion (HP) found that although many resources and tools are available, there is a lack of information about their implementation that would be beneficial for transferring or ‘scaling up’ more broadly. This presentation will describe a grounded theoretical model of health promotion tool implementation and demonstrate its application by drawing on our experiences of introducing a health promotion continuous quality improvement (HPCQI) program in Northern Territory health services.

Methods: We purposively selected four health promotion tools to explore how they were implemented in Indigenous primary health care settings. We analysed existing data using a grounded theory approach that involved an iterative process to identify themes and theoretical constructs. To develop the model, these themes were further categorised into higher order concepts under four classifications: the phenomena; context; actions/strategies; and outcomes.

At the same time, a separate but complementary process of implementing a HPCQI program was unfolding in the Northern Territory. This presentation will bring together our combined experiences and lessons for health promotion tool implementation.

Results/Discussions: Our research found that health promotion tools are implemented by strengthening organisation and workers capacity, tailoring for diverse groups and settings, adding value from experience, connecting through a culturally safe space and having a vision for a preventive approach. Facilitating responsive health promotion by networking and engaging is central to tool implementation.

Conclusions/implications: Our implementation model highlights the necessity of ‘a good fit’ between the evidence for the tool, the context and the process of implementation. The value of the implementation model will be tested in further episodes of HPCQI implementation and may also be relevant for other health promotion tools.