Implementing Evidence-Based Interventions With Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Scoping Review.

Abstract

With the rapid growth of the community-dwelling older adult population, evidence-based occupational therapy interventions targeting older clients need to be effectively implemented. However, little is understood about the factors influencing effective intervention implementation into practice. We performed a scoping review to explore what strategies and factors relate to the uptake of older adult interventions into practice. Concepts from implementation science literature guided our review. Our review yielded 13 articles that met our search criteria. Study designs examined barriers, facilitators, and strategies related to the implementation of evidence-based older adult interventions into practice. Effective implementation strategies included training sessions, workshops, consultations, and outreach meetings. Our findings suggest that practitioners, administrators, and researchers should adopt strategies such as workshops, consultations, fidelity vignettes, peer mentoring, and standardized training to effectively implement research into practice with older adults.