A realist process evaluation of an intervention to promote competencies in interprofessional collaboration among interdisciplinary integrated care teams for older people

Government policy in Ireland recognises the importance for older people to live well in their homes and their communities. This means that the right healthcare is available for older people and their family carers in their communities as and when they need it. The government have a plan to develop healthcare teams called Integrated Care Teams which will be located in communities around Ireland. The teams will include different healthcare professionals who are trained to deliver specialised care which is relevant to their discipline. However, they need support so that they can learn how to work together as a team. This will mean that older people and their family carers can get the holistic care and support they may need to live well in their communities.

This study will build upon a previous project in which researchers collaborated with healthcare professionals and with representatives of older people to describe the features of teams that work well together. We now wish to evaluate how the healthcare teams located in communities around Ireland develop these features. We want to learn from these teams what works for them when they are developing these features of team-working and why does it work. We also want to know what doesn’t work and why not. We will interview older people and family carers about what is important to them when they are receiving care from a healthcare team.

This study will help us to understand how healthcare professionals can learn to work well together. We will be able to show why this is important for older people and family carers. We will use this understanding to improve the education and training of healthcare professionals. It will also be used by managers and policymakers so they can better support these professionals to work together as a team.

Award Date

01 July 2022

Award Value

€369,881.25

Principal Investigator

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell

Host Institution

University College Dublin

Scheme

Investigator Led Projects