Sustaining Transfers Through Affordable Research Translation (START)

Currently, the health care that people receive is approximately 20 years behind up-to-date research findings. Developing ways to narrow the gap between evidence and practice is an important research focus in continuing care facilities, especially when one considers that the demand for these facilities is estimated to increase ten-fold in the next 25 years. In Alberta, there are an estimated 27,400 healthcare aides working in the continuing care sector. Developing reminders targeting these care providers will increase the likelihood that the significant resources invested to promote the uptake of research findings will lead to sustained practice change and, ultimately, improved client outcomes. The purpose of the START project (Sustaining Transfers through Affordable Research Translation) is to help bridge this gap between research and practice in supportive living and long-term care facilities by studying the effectiveness of reminder interventions to support the sustainability of a research-based mobility innovation. In particular, the project will evaluate the frequency and intensity of reminders that maintain the daily practice of healthcare aides to carry out a mobility innovation with clients in 24 supportive living and long-term care facilities. We will compare monthly versus every three month reminders, and we will compare paper-based reminders (like a sticker on a chart) and reminders provided by a healthcare aide peer. Using interviews, questionnaires and observations, the START project will also evaluate the processes that inhibit or promote the uptake of the mobility innovation by healthcare aides in their daily practice. In building this bridge between research evidence and practice, we will work closely with stakeholders at all levels of healthcare delivery (e.g. healthcare aides, facility leaders, policy makers and researchers) throughout the study. We expect our collaboration to contribute to sustainable innovations in the continuing care sector and,