Folio News Story
June 8, 2007

$4.7 million for elder-care research

Study will help put research into practice

by Bev Betkowski and Caitlin Crawshaw

Elderly people in long-term care facilities are often vulnerable and lack advocates for their health and well being.

"The people who really struggle, who often go to long-term care facilities, are people with dementia or some form of dementia," said Dr. Carole Estabrooks, a professor in the Faculty of Nursing. "Their parents have long gone, and their spouses may be ill or deceased, and their children may not live in the same province or city."

Fortunately, a new cross-Canada study will examine how new research can be implemented at care facilities to improve the health and well being of this vulnerable group - particularly in the areas of pain management, falls and fall injury prevention and behaviour management in patients with dementia.

Estabrooks has been awarded a $4.7-million grant from Canadian Institutes of Health Research to support the five-year, national research program called Translating Research in Elder Care.

"This is an important development on the part of CIHR - funding this type of research on aging," said Estabrooks. "With our aging population, it is essential that we develop ways to improve care delivery and outcomes for residents in long-term care."

Estabrooks holds the Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Translation and is director of the Knowledge Utilization Studies Program in the Faculty of Nursing. Knowledge translation is about using research in practice.

The project includes research partners, managers and leaders in long-term care in the three Prairie provinces.

"Conducting research at 30 facilities across five health regions in the three provinces will allow us to look at how context - that is, those things that make each setting unique - affects knowledge transfer," said Estabrooks.

The Alberta component will see research conducted in both Edmonton and Calgary health regions, and possibly the East Central Health Region. Sites will also be chosen in the Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg regions.

The program will test different approaches in the various settings, to see which methods for sharing research results work and why.

"For example, we might look at the most current research on falls prevention," said Estabrooks. "We will work with a facility to help them to adopt new concepts in falls prevention, and learn the best methods of implementing this research into practice."

By comparing across various settings, the researchers acknowledge that there is not a 'one-style-fits-all' approach, but that different organizations have different methods of accepting and using new research. The outcome is better care in long-term care facilities.

"This project provides a tremendous opportunity for the Prairie provinces, to not only work toward care improvements in nursing homes, but also to build research capacity in the area of aging," says Estabrooks.