Innovating Long-term Care: Innovating long-term care: Contributing to more inclusive innovations

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacted unparalleled devastation globally on older people living in residential long-term care (LTC) homes and those who care for them. Transformative change and innovations (defined as new ideas, practices, or policies) are desperately needed to support recovery and build resilience in LTC to prevent more harm. The U.N. Research Roadmap (2020) for the COVID-19 Recovery outlines that research can help identify how best to include the voices and meet the needs of marginalized populations (e.g., older adults living in LTC). LTC innovations should be guided by the voices of marginalized populations to increase its relevance and sustainability; yet, we lack knowledge of how to advance inclusive innovations for COVID-19 recovery in LTC. This funded project includes four countries (Canada, Brazil, Switzerland, and the U.S.), the research will involve conducting: 1) country-level environmental scans including key informant interviews to understand the organizational context and processes of LTC innovation design and implementation; 2) an international e-Delphi survey, informed by the environmental scans, about strategies for including older adults in innovation design and implementation; and 3) development of a conceptual framework and tool with implementation strategies that can be used in different countries. This 2-year project will enable the inclusion of older adults resulting in a more equitable and resilient LTC sector. The research purpose of this project is to develop a robust conceptual framework and tool that enables the inclusion of older adults in the development and implementation of innovations in LTC within multiple multiple socio-political and cultural contexts.