Initial mechanisms identified across three key settings, with example quotations
| Public hospital services n=14 | Residential and community aged care n=6 | Private practitioners n=4 | |
| Motivation and building confidence to engage in change | Improved job satisfaction and interest in dementia care were motivators ‘I hope to improve the service that I'm delivering and gain knowledge and confidence’ E10 | Encouragement to improve services after stress of changes and interest in dementia care ‘if it improves the quality of life of our residents it’s worth doing’ E11 | Broadening business goals and interest in dementia care ‘it just provides us with another option that we can then promote to future clients for the business’ E04 |
| Accountability to strengthen commitment to change | Formal staged schedule to fit in with time constraints ‘I think the structure of that agents for change… with how we develop a project as such, will help me’C06 | Structure to guide process and provide flexibility ‘…guided through and supported through the whole thing and not left to your own devices’ O05 | Regular reminders to keep the collaboratives as a priority ‘if you’re doing it on your own, it’ll sort of get pushed to the back again’ E08 |
| Sense of identity reinforced | Professional leadership in services ‘I think it is a really transferrable skill in demonstrating leadership and giving people opportunities to step up’ S13 | Commitment to improved quality of services for people with dementia ‘I’m very passionate about people with dementia so with my values I want to make sure that they’re maintaining their independence and participating in things they want to participate in.’ O04 | Specialist provider to people with dementia ‘I’m aiming for our OT practice to be specialist in services for older people’ O03 |
| Collective learning increases mutual support | Sharing knowledge for improvement was valued ‘…breadth of the experience… from the team itself will be really valuable to share’ C06 | Learning from others and comparing interventions helped assess services ‘…you can pool your ideas and see where the problems are, who’s having success in certain areas’ E05 | Sharing knowledge enhanced satisfaction in the work ‘Feeling confident that I'm following best practice which, for me, creates better job satisfaction’ C05 |
| Doing it together increased safety to learn and make mistakes | Overcoming isolation and providing confidence to learn ‘I really just want that contact because… I was quite out of my depth, going I don’t know if I’m going in the right direction’ E09 | Re-energising by working with like-minded others ‘Great to have so many likeminded people in the one place.’ C08 | Practical guided approach motivated participation ‘I see it as being more practical, which appeals to me’ O07 |
| Credibility increases trust and acceptance of the process | Valued evidence base and shared focus on improvement in process ‘I mean, the evidence is really there and it’s exciting to work with people who are on that same train of thought. That’s the joy of it’ O09 | Evidence base fits with accreditation standards ‘…recognition that it’s obviously a project that would be of interest to the organisation’C08 | Connection between best practice and research ‘…people Australia-wide who have been involved in it and are basing their practice on research and the evidence’C05 |
OT, occupational therapy.