The right to rehabilitation for people with dementia: Implementation and evaluation of the "INCLUDE" interventions

The "INCLUDE" education interventions for health professionals will consist of the following: 1. An on-line training module ‘What is dementia rehabilitation and the role of the allied health professional’. Topics will include the evidence for rehabilitations, barriers to access and ways participants can address some of the barriers. (approx. 2-3 hours in duration). Mode of administration is self-paced online learning (with set opening and closing dates for each e-module) with short articles, short videos, quizzes and reflection activities, Course participants will be expected to complete all e-modules in order to participate in the community of practice. 2. Dementia Training Australia (DTA) run a diagnosis and managing dementia training session 1.15 h x 3 webinars or 6 hours face to face for general practitioners and practice nurses– this will be evaluated as part of this study. Content will include diagnosis and management of dementia, dementia rehabilitation and its benefits for people with dementia and their carers, role of allied health professionals in providing dementia rehabilitation and referrals for dementia rehabilitation. The mode of training will include trainer presentations and may include short videos, interactive activities and short quizzes. Attendance of the DTA training will be monitored and recorded by DTA Australia through registration process and training attendance. 3. A Community of Practice (CoP) with the aim to improve interdisciplinary knowledge and dementia rehabilitation expertise, enhance collaboration between members and advocate for people with dementia being able to know about and access allied health (approx. 30 min to one hour, held at different times over 12 months). Components of the CoP may include: a. Access to members details (via online methods) to facilitate referrals and networking b. Webinars c. Digital newsletter with Allied Health (AH) related topics and research updates d. Question and discussion board (online) e. Region/satellite face to face and/or online meetings f. Resources (provided online) g. A power-point that can be used to inform and educate others of the role of allied health in dementia (provided online) Participants of the CoP will be notified of each event (b-g) by emails and/or a monthly digital newsletter. 4. Resources to be provided during 1-3 (via online methods): a. An ‘Allied health and dementia’ brochure (co-designed by the stakeholders, consumers, dementia advocates, clinicians and the research team) b. A decision support and communication tool to help referrers understand and select allied health professionals for their clients, and illustrated by case studies (co-designed by the stakeholders, consumers, dementia advocates, clinicians and the research team). Co-design process (completed in a previous study): The lived experience experts and professionals participated in 3 workshops via zoom. Workshop 1 ‘gather the experience’ was run twice within one week (one for each group) understanding the experience. Three weeks later, Workshop 2 ‘understand the experience’ was run in a similar way. Three months later workshop 3 ‘improve the experience’ was run once with both workshop cohorts in attendance. All workshops ran for 90 minutes. For Workshop 1, key findings from published systematic reviews and guidelines on the evidence for dementia rehabilitation, and relevant literature on barriers, were synthesised into briefing notes. The intent was to provide all workshop attendees with a broad scope of information to draw upon. To facilitate in-depth discussion, participants were divided into three breakout groups and were asked to provide their experience around stigma, knowledge, disempowerment, and pathways in relation to people with dementia accessing rehabilitation. Workshop 2 ran in the same format, but participants were asked to consider the barriers discussed in the previous workshop and provide their perspective on their experiences on what would help general practitioners, allied health professionals and people with dementia deliver and access rehabilitation. This included commenting on a number of existing information brochures and tools. Between Workshop 2 and 3 the research team considered the suggested solutions and sought further information from key organisations to determine feasibility and willingness to partner in implementation of solutions. Workshop 3 brought all participants together, for refinement of the solutions. Allied health professionals, nurses, and other professionals who commence participation at the beginning of the 12-month study (around Jan/Feb 2024) will be invited to participate in all aspects of the INCLUDE solutions. For allied health professionals, nurses, and other professionals who commence participation in mid-study (May 2024), they will be invited to participate in the e-module only. The total time involved (if all activities are undertaken by health professionals) would be approximately 15 hours over the 12-month period. The e-module attendance and completion will be monitored by the "HPEO" site which is a Moodle-based learning management system and has course analytics functions. Participation in the community of practice activities e.g. webinars, meetings and discussion boards will be recorded online and/or by research staff tracking the number of participants attending each event.