Designing a survey assessing the scale and spread of integrated care in the iCOACH project

• Main Authors: G. Ross Baker, Carolyn Steele Gray, Jay Shaw, Mylaine Breton, Paul Wankah Nji, Tim Kenealy, Nicolette Sheridan, Anne McKillop, Agnes Grudniewicz, Elana Commisso, Walter Wodchis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ubiquity Press 2019-08-01
• Series: International Journal of Integrated Care
• Subjects: scale and spread; integrated primary care; activities of integrated care; adaptation; survey development
• Online Access: https://www.ijic.org/articles/5268

Introduction: Community based primary health care (CBPHC) organizations are critical providers of integrated care for complex patients. Exemplar cases exist, but efforts to scale up and spread successful models continue to face major challenges. While scale and spread has become a popular topic, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of what components or activities of integrated care models should and can be spread from one locale or jurisdiction to the next, and to what degree we allow for local adaptation of those activities. Theory/Methods: To address this identified gap we developed a survey for managers and providers in CBPHC organizations that allows respondents to specify which activities require local adaptation for their scale up and spread and which need to be more standardized. The survey builds on learning from the iCOACH project, a study analyzing 9 integrated models of community-based primary health care (CBPHC) in Ontario, Quebec and New Zealand. To develop the survey we carried out 1) a targeted literature review identifying existing reviews of key activities of integrated CBPHC; 2) a workshop session with CBPHC managers and providers to validate the approach and aim of the survey; 3) mapping the findings of the literature review to coded qualitative data from the iCOACH study to validate identified activities; and 4) validation and initial testing of a pilot survey. Results: The literature review yielded 32activities of integrated CBPHC, each of which were found to be present in iCOACH case studies. The workshop session was run in January 2018 with 17 participants. from 3 case study sites. Participants identified all activities as important to models of integrated care; but reported varying needs for standardization or adaptation for specific elements. Discussion from the workshop was used to refine survey wording and structure. The draft survey was tested with managers and providers in CBPHC organizations using cognitive interviewing techniques to refine the instrument. Small scale testing of the survey will be undertaken with staff in 2 CBPHC sites. Discussion: Multiple methods were used to validate the key activities of integrated care; however, the ways in which these activities are implemented in scale and spread efforts are nuanced and context dependent. Conclusions: The survey tool developed will help us to unpack these nuances and contextual influences, with the aim of clarifying core versus peripheral activities of integrated care at different stages of the scale and spread process (e.g., whether early or later stages of adoption). Lessons learned: One critical finding from the symposium was that conceptualizations of fidelity and adaptation are widely varied and needs to be clearly stated in any assessment. Ensuring clarity of these terms was central to the development of this survey. Limitations: While the survey has strong content validity due to our development methodology, additional work will be required to test reliability and other components of validity prior to wider adoption of the survey. Suggestions for future research: Following testing in Canadian settings, we plan to deploy the survey to CBPHC organizations internationally.