From expected to actual barriers and facilitators when implementing a new screening tool: A qualitative study applying the Theoretical Domains Framework

Abstract

Aim and objectives: To identify determinants for using a new screening tool to identify older patients eligible for targeted nurse-led intervention, as perceived by healthcare professionals implementing the tool, and to examine how these perceptions changed over time.

Design: A cross-sectoral longitudinal qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals in a Danish hospital and two collaborating municipalities.

Methods: In three focus groups, seven single interviews and a workshop, we examined the healthcare professionals' perceptions of and attitudes towards the new screening tool before, during and after the implementation. The Theoretical Domains Framework was used to identify the healthcare professionals' perception of barriers and facilitators, followed by content analysis. The results were further discussed using the COM-B system as an analytic framework. This qualitative study is reported according to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Studies (COREQ) checklist.

Results: 'Professional role', 'Goals' and 'Environmental context' were the domains most talked about by the healthcare professionals across the three time points. The content analysis identified four determinants for using the new screening tool:Making time for the project, External motivation and management, Expectations and reality, and Professional identity. The healthcare professionals' perception of the determinants changed during the implementation, influencing their behaviour and, consequently, the implementation's sustainability.

Conclusion: Perception of barriers and facilitators to the interventions were time- and context-sensitive. Beliefs and motivational factors changed during the project, which points out the importance of following implementation processes systematically to understand the outcome of an intervention.

Relevance for clinical practice: Perceptions and attitudes towards a new initiative may change over time, emphasising the importance of following barriers and facilitators during the implementation of an intervention and working with an implementation plan that can be adapted along the way.

Keywords: determinants; implementation; longitudinal; older medical patients; screening tools; theoretical domains framework.