Implementing an Intervention to Foster Meaningful Engagement and Shared Decision-making in Long-term Care: A Mixed Methods Approach

This study is a pilot test of an intervention to engage residents and their family and the healthcare team in a collaborative approach to decisions about care planning in long-term care. The intervention includes leadership coaching with the management team, an educational bundle that includes a one-day education session for staff and managers on communication strategies and ways to engage family and residents in care planning and follow-up visits, and a series of resident and family led huddles (brief, 15 minute meetings) to discuss a care related topic with staff to foster proactive communication and information sharing and care planning.

The study aims are to describe the feasibility and acceptability of the resident and family engagement intervention, and to evaluate the following outcomes: resident quality of life, resident and family satisfaction with care, and staff quality of work life. The investigators aim to recruit 20 staff, the leadership team, and 12 resident-family dyads from four long-term care facilities who will receive the intervention and complete the survey measures. The expected outcome from this study is an increased understanding of how to engage residents and family in care decisions impacting quality of life.

Amendment: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the anticipated sample size is smaller and as a result, our outcomes will be explored qualitatively through interviews.