Table 2 Definitions used to develop the logic models

Drivers

The underlying motivation for the changes under review, and tend to answer the question ‘why is this intervention taking place?’ The drivers and outcomes are important, and tend to form the ‘anchors’ for the logic model. Drivers and outcomes should be closely related.

Contexts

The physical, material, organization and/or social environment in which the change is taking place. These become the enabling/disabling environments for the change to take place.

Mechanisms

Mechanisms are a complex idea to distill on their own. Instead, we extracted the barriers and facilitators to change. Often (but not always) the barriers and facilitators are the opposite of each other, and when written as a positive statement, they become the mechanisms to support change.

Outputs

The outputs as the material or measurable products of undertaking the process or project under investigation. They tend to be tangible, countable, and relatively uncontentious products of the research and they are often the clearly codifiable components of the process.

Outcomes

Outcomes are the changes resulting from the intervention, and should be closely related to the drivers. Outcomes often require a formal process of evaluation/research to capture in a meaningful way.