Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

There is a well-established gap in efforts to transfer evidence-based treatments into routine delivery with quality in community settings. This is a particular challenge in the mental health system where studies have shown that the majority of clients do not receive evidence-based care. Learning collaboratives are a strategy to support delivery of evidence-based practices by bringing programs together in a structured and intentional way to conduct quality improvement. Participating programs attend meetings, collect data to monitor quality of care, and conduct improvement projects. A central team provides coaching and training support. Learning collaboratives have been successfully implemented in many jurisdictions and have led to improvements in the quality of care and in client outcomes. Participating programs appreciate the expertise and practical support that the central team provides, and the opportunity for shared learning and problem solving with peers. Eating disorders treatment, Early Psychosis Intervention and Housing First are evidence-based practices that are widely implemented in Ontario. Each is supported by a province wide stakeholder network that works with programs to improve consistency and quality of delivery. However, the support is limited due to lack of resources. Learning collaboratives provide an opportunity to build on the existing structures and resources in these three sectors to offer a systematic and data driven model to improve quality of care. This planning grant will bring together diverse stakeholders from these three sectors to learn about the learning collaborative model and discuss how this model could be applied in each sector. This will be accomplished through a series of four structured virtual meetings. The aim will be to lay the groundwork for a future funding proposal to assess the implementation and benefits of the learning collaborative model.