It Gives You a Really Great Feeling, Knowing That What You Are Doing Is Making Somebody’s Day: Provider Perspectives on Implementing the Individualized Positive Psychosocial Interaction

The Individualized Positive Psychosocial Interaction (IPPI) is an evidence-based program that supports engaging people living with dementia and their care partners in the nursing home (NH). IPPIs are brief, one-to-one, preference-based activities to improve well-being and decrease behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. The purpose of this study was to understand barriers and facilitators to implementing the IPPI program from the perspective of NH provider champions. Semistructured interviews (n = 62) were completed with implementation champions (n = 20) who led a quality improvement project to implement the IPPI with three to five residents per NH. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using the Innovation Domain of the updated Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Constructs coded included cost, design, complexity, adaptability, relative advantage, trialability, and evidence base. Implementation champions spoke about the IPPI program’s relative advantage of effectively reducing resident’s behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia based on meaningful, personalized content. Champions voiced that the IPPI program was cost-effective, adaptable to their local contexts, and provided training to staff to support residents experiencing distress. Champions acknowledged the complexity of identifying implementation team members and completing initial education and training. In addition, they appreciated the chance to build capacity by trialing IPPIs with a small number of residents for initial efforts (e.g., trialability). Utilizing the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research allowed for the systematic identification of facilitators and barriers to IPPI implementation. Overall, the IPPI program goals are aligned with nursing home organization goals, supporting staff in providing comfort to residents communicating distress, and can be feasibly implemented.