Dear Caddy,

How would you respond if, in a summary statement, one of the reviewers said that MOST can no longer be considered innovative?

Sincerely,

Asking for a Friend

Dear Asking,

This comes down to the difference between innovative and new.  The first article on MOST came out in 2005, so MOST is now nearly 20! Therefore, it probably cannot be considered new.

But I would argue that although MOST is not new, it is definitely still innovative.  Although the use of the intervention optimization paradigm is growing rapidly, it is not yet standard operating procedure. For example, very few universities offer a graduate course on MOST.

According to Wikipedia, “innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services.” MOST is still being applied for the first time in many areas of public health, education, and elsewhere, to develop new and improved interventions, and to improve the body of scientific knowledge about what intervention strategies work, for whom, under what circumstances, and why.

Sincerely,

Caddy