TMFAs in Action
A Toolkit for Understanding, Selecting, and Combining Theories, Models, Frameworks, and Approaches
With over 150 TMFAs in implementation science, knowing where to start can feel overwhelming.
That’s why we’ve created a package of actionable tools to help you understand and differentiate TMFAs, select those that best fit your goals, combine them so that they can work together, and apply them to your practice or research initiatives.
Get the complete toolkit and all future updates for $149 USD / $195 CAD.
Purchase by September 28, 2026, to join a live 1-hour virtual Q&A with Drs. Julia Moore and Sobia Khan on October 1 at 11:00 AM ET.
Get the toolkit
You might be wondering:
- Where do I even start?
- What's the difference between a theory, model, framework, and approach?
- Which TMFAs align with what I'm trying to accomplish?
- Am I choosing a TMFA because it fits my initiative or because it's familiar?
- Do I need more than one?
- How do I combine TMFAs without making everything more complicated?
- How do I explain and justify my choices to colleagues, reviewers, or funders?
Theories, models, frameworks, and approaches (TMFAs) are foundational tools for guiding successful implementation.
They can help you understand, plan, implement, sustain, scale, evaluate, and research implementation efforts. But with so many TMFAs available, it’s not always clear which ones to use.
Why choosing a TMFA can be difficult
You may have already searched the literature, reviewed long lists of TMFAs, or attended sessions that left you with even more questions.
And you may still be asking: Which TMFA should I actually use?
One course participant described the challenge this way:
"The sheer number of TMFAs available online and in the literature can be overwhelming at first glance…"
Sound familiar?
Start with your purpose
Many existing resources present a large collection of TMFAs to help you see the full range available. But if you don’t know how to navigate them, how would you know which ones to select?
TMFAs in Action takes a different approach.
The toolkit guides you to first consider what you need a TMFA to help you do, then provides a set of options that fit that purpose. This gives you a more manageable range of TMFAs to explore and discuss with your team.
Rather than trying to be exhaustive, we’ve kept the toolkit focused and concise. It highlights commonly used TMFAs that have been especially helpful in our work and in the work of the thousands of professionals we support and train.
The toolkit can help you:
- Understand what different TMFAs can help you do
- Compare your options and discuss them with your team
- Select the TMFAs that fit your goals and combine them where appropriate
- Explain and document why you chose them
- Apply them with greater confidence to support better outcomes
Who is this toolkit for?
TMFAs in Action is for anyone who wants to better understand TMFAs or use them more intentionally.
It provides an accessible introduction for those who are new to TMFAs, along with more advanced guidance for those with experience using them.
The toolkit is useful for:
Implementation practitioners
Implementation researchers
People in implementation support roles
Researchers applying implementation science
Graduate students
Project and program teams
People developing grants, protocols, or implementation plans
You don't need extensive prior knowledge to get started. The resources cover core concepts as well as more advanced topics, such as integrating TMFAs.
What’s included in TMFAs in Action
The toolkit brings together videos, practical guides, templates, and collaborative tools to help you move from understanding TMFAs to selecting, combining, and applying them in your work.
Build your understanding
What Are TMFAs?
Video (Learning Tool)Learn what theories, models, frameworks, and approaches are, how they differ, and how each can help you make sense of, plan for, and strengthen implementation.
Applying TMFAs in Research and Practice
Video (Learning Tool)Learn a practical, purpose-driven approach to selecting and combining TMFAs, including how to clarify the function each one needs to serve and determine when adaptations may be helpful.
TMFAs Field Guide
PDF (Learning Tool)Understand the functions different TMFAs can serve and how they can be selected and combined to support implementation.
Glossary of TMFA Terms
PDF (Learning Tool)Clarify key terms used to describe and apply TMFAs.
Work through your options as a team
Making Sense of TMFAs Together is a connected set of resources to help you work through TMFA decisions with your team.
Facilitation Guide
PDF (Sensemaking Tool)Use structured questions to clarify what you need a TMFA to do, help you compare options, decide whether multiple TMFAs are needed, and how they fit together.
Planning Template
Fillable Google Sheets (Planning Tool)Capture your responses, compare potential TMFAs, and document your selection and rationale.
Collaboration Whiteboard
Fillable Miro board (Collaboration Tool)Work through the selection process visually and collaboratively in a shared online space.
Bonus resources
Two tips sheets addressing specific questions we often hear from implementation professionals:
Making the Case for Using TMFAs: What They Are and Why They Matter
PDF (Tips Sheet)Share this resource to help others such as project partners, senior leaders, or funders understand what TMFAs are and why they matter for implementation.
Recommendations for Using TMFAs in Grant Writing
PDF (Tips Sheet)Strengthen how you describe and justify your TMFA choices in grant applications.
🚀 Ready to put TMFAs into action? Get immediate, ongoing access to the complete toolkit.
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Explore the free TMFA Navigator Tool
The TMFA Navigator Tool is a free interactive online tool that complements TMFAs in Action.
Rather than presenting you with a long list of TMFAs, it starts by asking what you need a TMFA to help you do. Based on that purpose, it directs you toward a curated set of relevant options.
For example, you may need a TMFA to help you:
Identify barriers and facilitators
Select change strategies
Assess fit or readiness
Plan for sustainability, spread, or scale
➡️ The TMFA Navigator Tool helps you identify commonly used TMFAs based on the function you need them to serve.
➡️ The TMFAs in Action toolkit takes you further by helping you understand, compare, select, combine, and apply those options.
Download the function-driven TMFA list
Get this free PDF from the TMFA Navigator Tool page:
Commonly Used TMFAs
PDFExplore a collection of TMFAs organized by function, with descriptions, links to resources, and references. Plus, it includes TCI's Top TMFAs to help you get started.
You'll also find the PDF within the TMFAs in Action toolkit for easy access.
From understanding to action
Each part of the toolkit supports a different aspect of working with TMFAs:
- Learn core concepts through the two instructional videos, the TMFAs Field Guide, and the glossary.
- Explore relevant TMFAs using the TMFA Navigator Tool and downloadable PDF list.
- Discuss and compare options with your team, and document your thinking using the Making Sense of TMFAs Together resources.
- Select the TMFAs that best fit your initiative and combine them where appropriate.
- Apply your selected TMFAs to your practice or research initiative.
- Gain tips for helping others understand what TMFAs are and why they matter.
- Strengthen how you describe and justify your TMFA choices in grant applications or proposals.
See how a function-driven approach makes TMFA selection more manageable
In this short clip from the toolkit, Dr. Julia Moore shares a real example of someone who felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of TMFAs available.
The shift came from asking one practical question:
What purpose do you need the TMFA to serve?
Once that was clear, the list of potential TMFAs became much smaller and easier to navigate. That same purpose-driven approach is at the heart of TMFAs in Action.
The experience Julia describes is not unusual. It reflects one of the most common challenges we hear from people trying to use TMFAs in their work.
Why we created TMFAs in Action
“How do I actually pick a TMFA?” is one of the questions we hear most often.
That is exactly the kind of challenge TMFAs in Action was created to address: helping you move from an overwhelming number of options to one TMFA, or a focused set of TMFAs, that fits what you’re looking to accomplish.
Practitioners, researchers, and graduate students understand that TMFAs can strengthen their work, but many have told us they need more practical support to understand their options, narrow them down, and determine how different TMFAs can work together.
The response when we first announced the toolkit reinforced what we had already been hearing: people need this.
To meet that need, we drew on TCI’s experience supporting and training thousands of implementation professionals to create an accessible, hands-on toolkit.
TMFAs in Action highlights commonly used TMFAs and helps you clarify what you need them to do, so you can make more intentional decisions for your work...
Get TMFAs in Action
Get immediate access to the complete toolkit, including future updates.
Use the resources at your own pace, independently or with your team. Return to the toolkit whenever you need support with TMFAs.
Launch Bonus: Purchase the toolkit by September 28, 2026, to receive access to the live virtual TMFA Q&A on October 1, 2026, and the recording.
Frequently asked questions
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Many existing resources help you see the broad range of TMFAs available or give you criteria for how to select TMFAs.
TMFAs in Action focuses on helping you move through the selection process. It helps you clarify what you need a TMFA to do, narrow your options to a more manageable set of commonly used TMFAs, and identify those that may best fit your initiative.
The toolkit gives you practical guidance and resources to discuss, compare, select, combine, and document those options.
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No. TMFAs in Action is a self-guided digital toolkit.
It includes two learning videos and is hosted on TCI’s course platform, but it isn’t organized into course modules and doesn’t include assignments or a certificate.
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No. All levels of familiarity with TMFAs are welcome.
The toolkit can serve as an introduction for people who are new to TMFAs. It also includes more advanced guidance for people who already use TMFAs and want support selecting and combining them more intentionally.
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The toolkit supports your decision-making rather than prescribing a single right answer.
It helps you clarify what you need a TMFA to do, identify and compare relevant options, and determine whether combining TMFAs may be appropriate, so you can make more thoughtful, well-supported decisions.
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No. The toolkit is intentionally focused rather than exhaustive.
It highlights commonly used TMFAs and those that have been especially useful in the literature and in TCI’s work, training, and collaborations.
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Yes. Several of the resources in the toolkit are designed for team use.
The Making Sense of TMFAs Facilitation Guide, Planning Template, and Collaboration Whiteboard are specifically designed to work together to support team discussion and decision-making. The Planning Template (Google Sheets) and Collaboration Whiteboard (Miro board) can be duplicated so your whole team can access and fill them out.
Making the Case for Using TMFAs and Recommendations for Using TMFAs in Grant Writing are designed to be shared with project partners, senior leadership, funders, or anyone else you want to help understand TMFAs.
The toolkit can also be used independently.
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Your purchase includes one login to access the toolkit through Teachable, TCI’s course platform. This login is for the person who purchased the toolkit and shouldn’t be shared with multiple users.
The Planning Template (Google Sheets), Collaboration Whiteboard (Miro board), and PDF resources to help others understand TMFAs are different: they're built to be duplicated, shared, or printed so your whole team can use them together.
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The toolkit includes streaming videos, downloadable PDF resources, fillable Google Sheets, and a digital Collaboration Whiteboard hosted on Miro.
The Google Sheets and Miro resources are designed to be duplicated for your own use. -
TMFAs in Action is hosted on Teachable, TCI’s course platform. You’ll receive immediate access after purchase. If you don’t already have a Teachable login, instructions for accessing the toolkit will be sent to you by email.
Your purchase includes ongoing access for as long as the toolkit remains available through TCI’s platform. Because your access does not expire, you’ll also receive future updates made to the toolkit.
The toolkit is self-paced and can be used independently or with your team.
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Because TMFAs in Action is a digital product with immediate access, purchases are final and non-refundable.
If an eligible discount code is missed at checkout, refund requests submitted within 14 days of the order date will be honored. A $25 processing fee will apply.
Please review our full refund policy for additional details.
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No. The TMFA Navigator Tool is a free interactive online tool that can be accessed without purchasing TMFAs in Action.
It helps you explore commonly used TMFAs based on the function or purpose you need them to serve.
TMFAs in Action takes you further by helping you understand, compare, select, combine, and apply those options.
Explore the free TMFA Navigator Tool. -
The following resources are available at no cost:
TMFA Navigator Tool
An interactive online tool that helps you explore TMFAs by function or purpose.Commonly Used TMFAs (PDF)
A printable and downloadable version of the TMFAs included in the online tool. It includes descriptions, links to resources, references, and TCI’s Top TMFAs to help you get started.Access both here: [ADD LINK]
These free resources are also included within TMFAs in Action for easy access.
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Each person who purchases TMFAs in Action by September 28, 2026, will receive one invitation to the live virtual TMFA Q&A with Drs. Julia Moore and Sobia Khan on October 1, 2026, from 11:00 AM–12:00 PM ET.
The session will be recorded, so you can watch it afterward if you’re unable to attend live.
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We offer a 70% discount on TMFAs in Action for Indigenous peoples and organizations, as well as individuals living in low- and middle-income countries, as defined by the World Bank.
Choose the right TMFAs for your work
TMFAs in Action gives you practical guidance and resources to help you spend less time searching and more time applying the TMFAs that best support your initiative.
Access the complete toolkit and get all future updates for $149 USD / $195 CAD.