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Pathways for best practice diffusion: the structure of informal relationships in Canada’s long-term care sector

Overview of attention for article published in Implementation Science, February 2017
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (90th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (71st percentile)

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Title
Pathways for best practice diffusion: the structure of informal relationships in Canada’s long-term care sector
Published in
Implementation Science, February 2017
DOI 10.1186/s13012-017-0542-7
Pubmed ID
Authors

James W. Dearing, Amanda M. Beacom, Stephanie A. Chamberlain, Jingbo Meng, Whitney B. Berta, Janice M. Keefe, Janet E. Squires, Malcolm B. Doupe, Deanne Taylor, Robert Colin Reid, Heather Cook, Greta G. Cummings, Jennifer L. Baumbusch, Jennifer Knopp-Sihota, Peter G. Norton, Carole A. Estabrooks

Abstract

Initiatives to accelerate the adoption and implementation of evidence-based practices benefit from an association with influential individuals and organizations. When opinion leaders advocate or adopt a best practice, others adopt too, resulting in diffusion. We sought to identify existing influence throughout Canada's long-term care sector and the extent to which informal advice-seeking relationships tie the sector together as a network. We conducted a sociometric survey of senior leaders in 958 long-term care facilities operating in 11 of Canada's 13 provinces and territories. We used an integrated knowledge translation approach to involve knowledge users in planning and administering the survey and in analyzing and interpreting the results. Responses from 482 senior leaders generated the names of 794 individuals and 587 organizations as sources of advice for improving resident care in long-term care facilities. A single advice-seeking network appears to span the nation. Proximity exhibits a strong effect on network structure, with provincial inter-organizational networks having more connections and thus a denser structure than interpersonal networks. We found credible individuals and organizations within groups (opinion leaders and opinion-leading organizations) and individuals and organizations that function as weak ties across groups (boundary spanners and bridges) for all studied provinces and territories. A good deal of influence in the Canadian long-term care sector rests with professionals such as provincial health administrators not employed in long-term care facilities. The Canadian long-term care sector is tied together through informal advice-seeking relationships that have given rise to an emergent network structure. Knowledge of this structure and engagement with its opinion leaders and boundary spanners may provide a route for stimulating the adoption and effective implementation of best practices, improving resident care and strengthening the long-term care advice network. We conclude that informal relational pathways hold promise for helping to transform the Canadian long-term care sector.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 20 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 117 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 117 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 19 16%
Student > Master 18 15%
Researcher 16 14%
Student > Bachelor 8 7%
Librarian 7 6%
Other 18 15%
Unknown 31 26%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 20 17%
Social Sciences 17 15%
Nursing and Health Professions 14 12%
Psychology 13 11%
Business, Management and Accounting 5 4%
Other 10 9%
Unknown 38 32%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 19. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 22 August 2019.
All research outputs
#1,885,473
of 24,803,011 outputs
Outputs from Implementation Science
#376
of 1,784 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#39,752
of 430,675 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Implementation Science
#13
of 42 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,803,011 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 92nd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,784 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.9. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 430,675 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 90% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 42 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 71% of its contemporaries.