Explore this Free Assignment Sample on Dementia Care and Knowledge Translation to understand how Cognitive Stimulation Therapy, evidence-based practice, and the Knowledge-to-Action framework are applied to improve patient outcomes. Get expert Assignment Help Australia for Nursing, Healthcare Management, and Public Health coursework from experienced academic writers.
Introduction: Knowledge Translation Plan Using Cognitive Stimulation Therapy
Dementia is a multifaceted and slowly evolving brain disorder that impacts the lives of millions of people across the world and healthcare systems. Reasoned by decreased mental ability, memory and the claim to execute daily tasks, dementia delays the quality of living of affected individuals. Dementia has recently become a major public health concern, given the rising incidence of the disease, especially among the elderly, and for the foregoing reasons, there is a need to come up with a treatment model for the disease. The management of dementia remains difficult, even with all the investigations done for the past few years, mainly because of the nature of the disease, with its different presentations and patients’ different reactions and tolerance to treatment.
State The Purpose Of The KT Plan
Improve Patient Outcomes: The KT plan aims at improving the health-related quality of life and mental health of people with dementia by increasing awareness of the best care treatment intervention (Helmer-Smith et al., 2021). With the implementation of this EBIP in the clinical care setting, the plan will work towards minimising the existing gap in care, which leaves many patients to receive inconsistent quality of care.
Facilitate Evidence-Based Practice: Another goal on this subject is also to assist healthcare workers in embracing evidence-based practice through capacity, training, and necessary tools being availed to them (Cassidy et al., 2021).
Enhance Stakeholder Engagement: The KT plan also seeks to engage stakeholders in the process of K.T, including the healthcare providers, the policymakers, the different patients, and their families.
Monitor and Evaluate Impact: The KT plan will contain a solid monitoring and evaluation section that will enable the assessment of the effects of the intervention on patients, healthcare providers, and the quality of care (Archibald et al., 2023).
Select An Innovation Or Intervention
Systematic Review Selection
The KT project plan for this systematic review involves a non-pharmacological intervention that has been determined to enhance cognitive function and quality of life in patients with dementia.
Description of the Innovation/Intervention
As a structured, evidence-based group therapy, CST is a form of intervention that aims at promoting cognitive function through several tasks and games (Chen, 2022).
Figure 1: Bio–Psycho–Social Model
(Source: Saketkoo et al., 2021)
One of its features is that it normally includes regular meetings which are normally conducted for forty-five minutes, two times a week and where participants exercise or practice in areas such as memory and problem-solving, language and social interaction. CST is very versatile and can be modified to suit any patient, hence it is a patient-centred approach to treating anxiety disorders (Saketkoo et al., 2021).
Relevance of CST
CST has been chosen for this KT plan because of the existing best evidence and because it has great potential in dealing with some of the most pressing issues to do with dementia care (Lau et al., 2022). First of all, it is cost-effective since it does not involve drugs, which may harm the already frail dementia-affected patients due to their susceptibility to side effects from drugs. Secondly, since CST involves interactive and socially-based activities the cognitive structure of the training protocol is complementary to the needs of dementia patients who suffer from isolation, and loss of intellectual and motor skills (Lau et al., 2022).
Gaps in the Literature
Areas that the systematic review explored and revealed were the shortages in the existing dementia care, as described by the following: Further, a documented discrepancy in CST implementation has been observed which affects the quality of care by providing less accessibility of this useful intervention across all levels (Gibbor et al., 2020). Thus, by concentrating on the application of CST within this KT plan, these are now able to normalize its applicability while increasing the number of affected patients who can reap the benefits of this particular evidence-informed treatment. This concern will assist in bridging the gap that exists between research implementation and the usual care years that are offered to dementia patients.
Specify Stakeholders And Actions
The stakeholders involved in this KT plan will significantly determine the success of this KT plan and the future provision and sustainability of CST to people with dementia. In delivering CST, there are physicians, nurses, occupational therapists, and specialists in dementia care (Rai et al., 2021). They are only bound for the implementation of CST sessions, for the assessment of the improvement or the deterioration of the patient and for the modification of the therapy. What defines the success of this intervention is the competency and passion of these professionals. The other important stakeholders are policymakers and healthcare administrators because they are involved in the development, financing and award of policies (Masefield et al., 2020). Their support is required for funding of the CST, incorporation of CST into treatment practices and the general support given by the institution’s policies that would support CST.
Patients and their families are the focus of the KT plan (Black et al., 2021). Thus, potential patients with dementia who will take part in CST and their carers are all stakeholders who need to be involved. Their stake and feedback are important in the modification of CST, compliance, and the outcome assessment of the intervention. They support research by financing it and offering human resources in the form of patient care and practising health care providers, undertaking research on medical knowledge on dementia care and educating them (Black et al., 2021). Such institutions can enrich the evidence base for CST, provide specialisation training for practitioners, and share practice recommendations.
CST is planned to be disseminated to healthcare professionals through presenting workshops and training, which would explain the principles and aims of the program (Stoner et al., 2020). These educational initiatives will make sure that the implementation of CST in the healthcare sector is successful by having competent practitioners. Further, sustained support will be available in the form of a network of peers and online support, so that healthcare professionals can continue to sharpen their delivery of CST.
Communicating with policymakers and administrators involves advocacy and policy-making approaches that are generally purpose-developmental (Hall et al., 2023). This will entail the preparation of short policy briefs and advocacy tools that will explain the concept of CST as well as the cost and impact that is associated with it. Meetings and sensitisation as well as sensitisation sessions with policy makers will be planned with the intention of embracing policymakers in the promotion of CST in dementia care. Also, negotiations with the administrators will be essential to ensure they set time and finance for the implementation of CST. This can involve going out for a grant or transferring an existing fund balance.
The other area of focus in the KT plan is patient and family engagement (Daniel et al., 2020). There is to be health promotion aimed at raising awareness and understanding of CST and the expectations from the therapy. This will entail educational meetings and literature to allow the patients to speak to their fears and have a good understanding of the procedure. Moreover, assessment communication channels where patients and families will be encountered to provide feedback on their encounters with CST will be implemented through the use of surveys or focus groups (Kefi & Asan, 2021). These results will be employed to make corrective measures that on the therapy and generally improve its efficiency.
Links with universities and research centres will also be fundamental to the continual investigation and monitoring of CST. Links with these institutions would come in handy in implementing studies on the efficacy of CST in different environments and diverse clients. The information gathered in this research will help make the necessary modifications to the KT plan for the application of CST in the future (Rai et al., 2021). In addition, courses related to CST will be established and courses for healthcare professionals will be presented where they can acquire the latest information in CST.
The adoption of CST will start at a pilot level, in a sample of the involved care facilities, to evaluate both the practical applicability and the results of the intervention (Perkins et al., 2022). The above plan will be implemented based on the experience of this pilot phase and its results. A monitoring and evaluation framework for the following indicators will be established: patient experience, CST utilization and satisfaction of various stakeholders. KT's plan will be reviewed and modified in a periodic manner based on the foregoing discoveries (Singh et al., 2023). Further, the development of a sustainability plan will occur to perpetuate CST well into the future and to address the continual utilization of CST in practice settings as well as the funding for such efforts.
Design KT Plan
Knowledge Creation
The knowledge creation phase supports the use of CSTs by distilling prior research findings on CST to better fit the target population (Srishti Palani & Ramos, 2024). As a result, the KT plan in this study is underpinned by the systematic review that revealed that CST is an effective intervention. These findings have therefore been integrated into guidelines, training and informational tools and products that will be shared with practitioners and other relevant stakeholders.
Action Phase
The action phase of the KTA framework encompasses several key steps: tailoring the knowledge, examining enablers and inhibitors, choosing, modifying, and applying the interventions, and reviewing the results (Manski-Nankervis et al., 2021).
Localising the Content of the Knowledge
Thus, this intervention must be put into an appropriate context within the care settings that will be used to practice CST. This encompasses issues to do with human resources, material resources that are necessary for conducting CST sessions, and patient demographics. These may be modifications to the activities utilized in CST, the and session length to the extent that it may have to accommodate the participants’ interests, capabilities and the capacity of the care-providing centre.
Assessing Barriers and Facilitators
It is hereby noted that a full evaluation of bi-phasic barriers and enablers of CST intervention will be done. Challenges can be a lack of knowledge on the part of the health service providers regarding CST, time and resource constraints, and resistance to alteration (Okada et al., 2021). On the other hand, the demoters might comprise inadequate leadership support, lack of access to training, or unfavourable perceptions of non-pharmacological treatments. In this assessment, questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions with the stakeholders will be conducted with a view of seeking the challenges and the gaps to be filled.
Choosing, Adapting, and Applying interventions
Accordingly, regarding the barriers, facilitators are going to be defined; then, strategies appropriate for the outlined challenge will be chosen (McArthur et al., 2021). For example, where a difficulty is the absence of training, specialist courses will be established and provided to workers in the field of healthcare. In the case of resistance to change, a change management plan including engagement of key stakeholders and constant support shall be put in place. The implementation process will be gradual, with the first steps made in selected facilities, and then based on the results of the pilot phase a wider spread of the program.
Monitoring and Evaluating Outcomes
A monitoring and evaluation framework will be prepared to make assessments of the implementation of CST regarding its effectiveness and efficiency (Check et al., 2020). They include the improvement of the patient’s clinical conditions, the degree of compliance to KT by healthcare practitioners, and the satisfaction of the stakeholders. Assessment tools will be used before and after the implementation of CST to measure the impact of CST on the target population.
Sustainability Plan
Since the goal of the KT plan is to achieve sustainable implementation of CST into the routine care practices acquiring and implementing CST, the strategies for integrating CST into routine care practices are therefore part of the KT planning (Black et al., 2021). This may consist of integrating CST into the treatment processes of the healthcare centres, freeing up sustainable funding through grants or institutional funding, as well as constantly offering training and information to healthcare workers (Black et al., 2021). A sustainability committee comprising representatives from different stakeholders will be appointed to ensure the continuous application and development of CST in dementia care.
Conclusion
The following is the KT project plan that will be used in the implementation of CST for the betterment of patients suffering from dementia. Using the Knowledge-to-Action framework to support the plan structures the translation of CST interventions from research to practice to make full use of the benefits that can be brought into clinical practice environments. In the present KT plan for CST, recommendations on how to enhance the applicability of the theory and overcome major perceived barriers include the following: The monitoring and evaluation framework described in the plan will also guarantee the possibility of implementing the plan effectively and in the long term as well, as it defines feedback mechanisms that will be operating throughout the process.
