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This study aims to explore the utility of collaborative knowledge sharing with stakeholders in developing and evaluating a training programme for health professionals to implement a social intervention in dementia research.

The programme consisted of two phases: 1) development phase guided by the Buckley and Caple’s training model and 2) evaluation phase drew on the Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model. Survey and interview data was collected from health professionals, people with dementia and their supporters who attended the training programme, delivered or participated in the intervention. Qualitative data was analysed using the framework analysis.

Seven health professionals participated in consultations in the development phase. In the evaluation phase, 20 intervention facilitators completed the post one-day training evaluations and three took part in the intervention interviews. Eight people with dementia and their supporters from the promoting independence in dementia feasibility study participated in focus groups interviews. The findings show that intervention facilitators were satisfied with the training programme. They learnt new knowledge and skills through an interactive learning environment and demonstrated competencies in motivating people with dementia to engage in the intervention. As a result, this training programme was feasible to train intervention facilitators.

The findings could be implemented in other research training contexts where those delivering research interventions have professional skills but do not have knowledge of the theories and protocols of a research intervention.

This study provided insights into the value of collaborative knowledge sharing between academic researchers and multiple non-academic stakeholders that generated knowledge and maximised power through building new capacities and alliances.

This paper addresses the importance of a more proactive role of organizational learning (OL) facilitators, learning motivation reinforcer, through a two‐part longitudinal study in a case company. The first part of this study aims to investigate and analyze some unexpected challenges in the project action learning‐driven (PAL) OL implementation in the case company, and the second part seeks to discuss an enhanced role of OL facilitators to cope with the new challenges.

A longitudinal case study supplemented with a series of carefully choreographed field research activities, e.g. interviews, on‐site observations, survey tests, was conducted to achieve the research purpose. In the first part of this study, the feedbacks regarding PAL implementation were collected from different PAL stakeholders to identify the problems and barriers that undermined the effectiveness of PAL implementation. In its second part, the proposed facilitator's interventions were introduced in the case company. The results were examined through a controlled group experiment conducted with an on‐going round of PAL implementation.

The study found that adverse changes in business circumstances and organizational restructurings could dampen staff's motivation toward organization's OL initiatives which would further reduce the OL effectiveness. To redress the situation, a set of facilitator's interventions was developed to reinforce OL members' learning motivation. Study results indicate that the proposed interventions can positively influence the learning motivation of the PAL members in the case company.

This paper describes the difficulties encountered in a real life OL journey and the role OL facilitators could take on to help overcome them. It provides empirical evidence of how the learning motivation and commitment of OL members can be positively influenced by OL facilitation.

The authors believe such longitudinal case based OL research is rare and valuable to OL theorists and practitioners.

The quality of voluntary sector-led community health programmes is an important concern for service users, providers and commissioners. Research on the fidelity of programme implementation offers a basis for assessing and further enhancing practice. The purpose of this paper is to report on the fidelity assessment of Living Well Taking Control (LWTC) – a voluntary sector-led, community-based education programme in England focussing on the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes.

This fidelity of implementation (FoI) study was conducted with the Devon-based LWTC programme. A fidelity checklist was developed to analyse audio records of group-based lifestyle education sessions – implementation was rated in terms of adherence to protocol and competence in delivery; the influence of wider contextual factors was also assessed. Kappa statistics (κ) were used to test for inter-rater agreement. Course satisfaction data were used as a supplementary indicator of facilitator competence.

Analysis of 28 sessions, from five diabetes prevention and two diabetes management groups (total participants, n=49), yielded an overall implementation fidelity score of 77.3 per cent for adherence (moderate inter-rater agreement, κ=0.60) and 95.1 per cent for competence (good inter-rater agreement, κ=0.71). The diabetes prevention groups consistently achieved higher adherence scores than the diabetes management groups. Facilitator competence was supported by high participant satisfaction ratings.

An appropriate level of implementation fidelity was delivered for the LWTC group-based education programme, which provides some confidence that outcomes from the programme reflected intervention effectiveness. This study demonstrates the viability of assessing the FoI in a voluntary sector-led public health initiative and the potential of this method for assuring quality and informing service development.

Stories told in organisations are being used increasingly as a way of gaining greater insight into organisational culture, leadership and health. These insights should be considered when organisational change is needed to improve effectiveness. This paper examines a method that combines data collection through a story elicitation process with intervention design that promotes change and learning within organisations. In this paper, we describe these processes in detail with a step‐by‐step account of how the authors implemented these processes in a research site. Our experience can act as a guide to other researchers undertaking similar projects. Evidence collected so far suggests that these processes can contribute to organisational change in an incremental way that engages people at various levels within an organisation.

Provides a practical insight into the three separate steps needed in the process of facilitating learning in small groups. Group facilitators do three things: they take in what goes on around them and inside themselves; they then make sense of it; finally, they intervene. Practical guidance in how to do these three things is provided, with theoretical back‐up.

The purpose of this paper is to explore US Chinese older adults’ views regarding elder abuse interventions in order to understand barriers and facilitators of help-seeking behaviors.

The study design was qualitative, using a grounded theory approach to data collection and analysis. Community-based participatory research approach was implemented to partner with the Chicago Chinese community. A total of 37 community-dwelling Chinese older adults (age 60+) participated in focus group discussions.

Participants viewed many benefits of intervention programs. Perceived barriers were categorized under cultural, social, and structural barriers. Facilitators to implement interventions included increasing education and public health awareness, integrating social support with existing community social services, as well as setting an interdisciplinary team. Perpetrators intervention strategies were also discussed.

This study has wide policy and practice implications for designing and deploying interventions with respect to elder abuse outcome. Modifying the cultural, social, and structural barriers that affect health behavior of Chinese older adults contribute to the salience of elder abuse interventions in this under-served.

More and more organisations are using teams to solve problems, plan for the future and improve products, processes and services. One method of enhancing group effectiveness is to use a facilitator. Facilitators, however, need to be trained in order to accomplish their role effectively. This can only be achieved successfully if trainers are aware of the competencies and skills needed to undertake the facilitation process. Explores the facilitation process and presents both the general and specific competencies that are essential for facilitation. General competencies are those that are vital no matter what type of group is meeting. Specific competencies, on the other hand, are those that are distinctive to the level of group development. Groups that are highly experienced and well‐developed will require the facilitator to have more sophisticated skills than groups that are less‐developed.

This paper aims to evaluate a whole system intervention (WSI) that was applied to North Tyneside (UK) adult mental health services and offer a discussion on the broader implications of these results. WSIs are brief, participant‐intensive, democratic change methods that are widely utilised but have received relatively little empirical consideration.

Two methods were used for the WSI evaluation: comparative (of local documentary evidence with scientific and professional sources); and qualitative (analysis of semi‐structured interviews with project planners, stakeholders and participants).

Issues emerged from the research associated principally with the following topics: system definition, power, stakeholder representation, facilitator role, intervention planning, as well as WSI follow‐up and time‐scale.

Guidance is offered associated with WSI methodology choice and its implementation within a health service context.

The purpose of this study is to investigate facilitator’s tools and actions in promoting interaction in virtual co-development.

In virtual environments, facilitation plays a crucial role. However, research does not provide many examples of tools and practices of virtual facilitation of co-development. To collect data, two virtual co-development processes were conducted. The data consisted of discussions during virtual workshops and was analyzed using both theory- and data-driven content analysis.

The discussions during the virtual co-development processes related on the topic and script of co-development and the use of digital technology. In co-development, both the facilitators and the participants take responsibility on the topic and the progression of the session. The facilitator needs to balance between offering the participants tools, supporting interaction and leaving empty space for the participants’ initiatives to enhance their agency.

The study underlines the importance of the script and tools in virtual facilitation as well as flexibility in the execution of co-development processes.

Mental health staff often experience significant levels of stress working in the acute psychiatric inpatient setting. Team-building interventions can mitigate stress in health-care settings, via improvements in team-cohesion, staff interactions and communication skills. The “Tree of Life” (ToL) is a specific narrative therapy approach which uses the metaphor of a tree to facilitate the construction and sharing of strength-based stories. This study aims to describe the development of and evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and staff experiences of the “Team Tree”, an adapted Professional ToL (PToL) intervention.

A one-hour, Professional ToL intervention was designed for multidisciplinary acute inpatient staff teams working within a psychiatric hospital in London, UK. A mixed methods approach was used to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and staff experiences of the session.

Participants were 46 multidisciplinary staff (33 women; 13 men) working across four acute psychiatric wards. The intervention was feasible to deliver and was acceptable to participants. Results showed significant improvements in self-reported mental well-being and team-cohesiveness scores post-session.

Psychologists face myriad barriers in working with staff teams in the acute inpatient setting. The “Team Tree” intervention was both well received by staff and practical to deliver within the challenging environment of the acute ward.

This adaptation of the original PToL emerged from the author’s work with distressed inpatient teams with limited time resources. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first description of this intervention using a single tree metaphor to facilitate a reflective and creative session with health-care teams.