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project information
Concept
It is widely known that even evidence-based interventions do not implement themselves. As a result, there is a gap between clinical research and everyday clinical practice.
The IMPACT project aims to develop improvement strategies that can be implemented to enhance the quality of palliative cancer and dementia care in areas that quality indicators have shown are in need of improvement.
The implementation process in the organization of palliative care encounters challenges above and beyond the usual problem of implementation, since a diversity of settings and related cultures are involved in this process: implementation research has developed model for stepwise implementation but it is still unclear which strategies are effective for whom and which factors influence the effectiveness of these implementation strategies. Thus, it is crucial to identify factors influencing this complicated implementation process and to develop strategies that are applicable not only within but also between diverse healthcare settings within Europe.
Objectives
The objectives of the IMPACT project are:
- to find optimal strategies to improve the organization of palliative cancer and dementia care in Europe
- to study the effectiveness of these strategies and factors influencing their effectiveness
What IMPACT will provide?
The IMPACT project will provide:
- Information on the actual organization of palliative care and make a data base allowing to compare the organization of palliative care in Europe
- Information about the barriers and facilitators in the organization of palliative care and on the selected strategies
- Information on the process of using these strategies
The information gathered in the project will be used to build a conceptual model. This model will identify optimal strategies to improve the organization of palliative cancer and dementia care in Europe. The model will be applicable across diverse healthcare settings and can be used to rigorously assess the effectiveness of the selected implementation strategies.
A multidisciplinary team
The IMPACT project is built on a consortium of 12 research teams located at 12 different universities or research organizations. IMPACT brings together a multidisciplinary team with partners who have experience in international research networks (INTERDEM "European group of researchers on psychosocial INTERvention in DEMentia"; EAPC "European Association for Palliative Care"; ESO "The European School of Oncology") and in European research project (Best Practice in Palliative Care, EAHC; PRISMA, 7th Framework EU; TOPAS, Bertelsmann Foundation Germany; EPCRC, 6th Framework EU; DIADEM, European Commission Programme for Community Action in the field of Public Health; HANDOVER, 7th Framework EU).