PMID- 37191978 OWN - NLM STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE LR - 20230919 IS - 1929-0748 (Print) IS - 1929-0748 (Electronic) IS - 1929-0748 (Linking) VI - 12 DP - 2023 May 16 TI - Care Partner Inclusion of People Hospitalized With Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Systems Engineering Approach to Designing a Health Care System Toolkit. PG - e45274 LID - 10.2196/45274 [doi] LID - e45274 AB - BACKGROUND: Research and policy demonstrate the value and need for the systematic inclusion of care partners in hospital care delivery of people living with Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD). Support provided to care partners through information and training regarding caregiving responsibilities is important to facilitating their active inclusion and ultimately improving hospital outcomes of people living with ADRD. To promote care partners' active inclusion, a toolkit that guides health systems in the identification, assessment, and training of care partners is needed. User-centered approaches can address this gap in practice by creating toolkits that are practical and responsive to the needs of care partners and their hospitalized family members and friends living with ADRD. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the study protocol for the development and refinement of the ADRD Systematic Hospital Inclusion Family Toolkit (A-SHIFT). A-SHIFT will provide health care systems with guidance on how to effectively identify, assess, and train care partners of hospitalized persons living with ADRD. METHODS: The A-SHIFT study protocol will use a 3-aimed, convergent mixed method approach to iteratively develop and refine the toolkit. In Aim 1, we will use a systems-engineering approach to characterize patterns of care partner inclusion in hospital care for people living with ADRD. In Aim 2, we will partner with stakeholders to identify and prioritize health care system facilitators and barriers to the inclusion for care partners of hospitalized people living with ADRD. In Aim 3, we will work with stakeholders to co-design an adaptable toolkit to be used by health systems to facilitate the identification, assessment, and training of care partners of hospitalized people living with ADRD. Our convergent mixed method approach will facilitate triangulation across all 3 aims to increase the credibility and transferability of results. We anticipate this study to take 24 months between September 1, 2022, and August 31, 2024. RESULTS: The A-SHIFT study protocol will yield (1) optimal points in the hospital workflow for care partner inclusion, (2) a prioritized list of potentially modifiable barriers and facilitators to including care partners in the hospitalization of people living with ADRD, and (3) a converged-upon, ready for feasibility testing of the toolkit to guide the inclusion of care partners of people living with ADRD in hospital care. CONCLUSIONS: We anticipate that the resultant A-SHIFT will provide health systems with a readiness checklist, implementation plan, and resources for identifying, assessing, and training care partners on how to fulfill their caregiving roles for people living with ADRD after hospital discharge. A-SHIFT has the potential to not only improve care partner preparedness but also help reduce health and service use outcomes for people living with ADRD after hospital discharge. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/45274. CI - (c)Beth Fields, Catherine Still, Austin Medlin, Andrea Strayer, Alicia I Arbaje, Andrea Gilmore-Bykovskyi, Nicole Werner. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 16.05.2023. FAU - Fields, Beth AU - Fields B AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-8192-7144 AD - Department of Kinesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States. FAU - Still, Catherine AU - Still C AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-8308-8137 AD - Department of Kinesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States. FAU - Medlin, Austin AU - Medlin A AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-4626-4541 AD - Department of Design & Wellness, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States. FAU - Strayer, Andrea AU - Strayer A AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-2632-8165 AD - College of Nursing, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States. AD - Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States. FAU - Arbaje, Alicia I AU - Arbaje AI AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-3224-3942 AD - Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States. FAU - Gilmore-Bykovskyi, Andrea AU - Gilmore-Bykovskyi A AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-4930-3558 AD - BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States. FAU - Werner, Nicole AU - Werner N AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-2363-9491 AD - Department of Design & Wellness, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States. LA - eng GR - K23 AG080068/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States GR - R21 AG077439/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States PT - Journal Article DEP - 20230516 PL - Canada TA - JMIR Res Protoc JT - JMIR research protocols JID - 101599504 PMC - PMC10230354 OTO - NOTNLM OT - caregiving OT - co-design OT - dementia OT - health care OT - mixed methods OT - systems COIS- Conflicts of Interest: AS receives royalties from Wolters Kluwer, Taylor Francis Publishers, and Thieme Publishers. EDAT- 2023/05/16 13:10 MHDA- 2023/05/16 13:11 PMCR- 2023/05/16 CRDT- 2023/05/16 11:53 PHST- 2022/12/22 00:00 [received] PHST- 2023/04/04 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2023/03/27 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2023/05/16 13:11 [medline] PHST- 2023/05/16 13:10 [pubmed] PHST- 2023/05/16 11:53 [entrez] PHST- 2023/05/16 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - v12i1e45274 [pii] AID - 10.2196/45274 [doi] PST - epublish SO - JMIR Res Protoc. 2023 May 16;12:e45274. doi: 10.2196/45274.