Abstract for: Evaluating the Implementation of Primary Care Behavioral Health in the Military Context

Qualitative methods have been used extensively in the systems dynamics literature to develop dynamic models of processes. Previous literature lays out the foundations for using qualitative methods for system dynamics research, with additional literature laying out when and how to apply qualitative research methods to system dynamics use cases. The goal of this paper is to build on this literature and describe how rigorous qualitative methods have been operationalized to develop, visualize, and validate causal loop diagrams (CLDs). We utilize existing data from a process evaluation of the implementation of the Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) model in different military settings to highlight how these qualitative methods are operationalized. Within these methods, we will further show how we conceptualized and achieved data saturation.