"I had to somehow still be flexible": Exploring adaptations during implementation of brief cognitive behavioral therapy in primary care

Background Primary care clinics present challenges to implementing evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for depression and anxiety, and frontline providers infrequently adopt these treatments. The current study explored providers’ perspectives on fidelity to a manualized brief cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as delivered in primary care clinics as part of a pragmatic randomized trial. Data from the primary study demonstrated the clinical effectiveness of the treatment and indicated that providers delivered brief CBT with high fidelity, as evaluated by experts using a standardized rating form. Data presented here explore challenges providers faced during implementation and how they adapted nonessential intervention components to make the protocol “fit” into their clinical practice.