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Dr. Sienna Caspar  |  October 26, 2023

Person-centred care from rhetoric to reality: exploring the role of knowledge translation and mobilization in healthcare

The movement away from task-oriented care toward person-centred care (i.e., care based on residents’ individualized care needs and preferences) is considered by many to be essential to both the quality of care and quality of life of people residing in long-term, residential care homes, especially of those who have Alzheimer disease or a related dementia. The consistent provision of person-centred care is widely recognized as the goal of the residential care culture change movement. In this talk, I will share four key findings from over a decade of research that help us to understand the intervention factors that best support the uptake of practice and culture change initiatives aimed at increasing the provision of person-centred care.  I’ll conclude this conversation with an exploration of the organizational systems that have supported or hindered my knowledge translation and mobilization efforts in healthcare settings. 

Watch Dr. Caspar's PUBlic Professor talk

Dr. Sienna Caspar is an Associate Professor at the University of Lethbridge in the Faculty of Health Sciences—Therapeutic Recreation program. Her areas of research include: organizational behaviour, empowerment, interprofessional teamwork and collaboration, quality of care and quality of work-life in dementia care.  Dr. Caspar is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) and a dementia care specialist; she has worked as a clinician and consultant in long-term care homes in both Canada and the United States for over 20 years. In 2008, she received a MA in Gerontology from Simon Fraser University.  Her thesis explored the relationship between care staff empowerment and the ability to provide person-centred care in long-term care settings.  She continued to study this important topic at the University of British Columbia, where she completed her PhD in the Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program. Sienna Caspar is the founder of the Relational Care Knowledge Hub and the executive director of the Centre of Excellence for Therapeutic Recreation in Continuing Care.