Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Fidelity refers to the extent to which a health service or intervention is delivered as planned or intended. The Ontario Excellent Care for All Act (2010) emphasizes delivery of high quality care in relation to best available evidence. Assessing fidelity can provide important information about how care is provided and can be used to guide improvement work. Fidelity assessments are most valuable if routinely applied so programs can track their improvements over time. In the Ontario community mental health and addictions sector, data are lacking to understand current practice. However, the need for better data is recognized. Our team is involved in several fidelity projects and much has been learned about the feasibility of conducting the assessments and their value for program improvement. This grant will bring diverse stakeholders together -- including funders/decision makers, service providers, service users and families, researchers and quality improvement agencies -- for a one day symposium to learn about these initiatives and plan next steps to build Ontario capacity in fidelity monitoring for quality improvement. .