Systematic implementation and evaluation of an app-based community platform for assessing pain in long-term care facilities
type: CreativeWork
description: Pain is under-assessed and under-addressed among older adults living in long-term care (LTC) facilities. The Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Limited Ability to Communicate-II (PACSLAC-II) is a validated assessment tool for health professionals to assess pain in residents with dementia. A tablet app, based on the PACSLAC-II, has been shown to have clinical utility. This study involved the systematic implementation and evaluation of a new community platform that works in conjunction with an updated PACSLAC-II app. The community platform is comprised of (a) a quality indicator (QI) feature, which allows health care professionals to view and share their unit QI scores (e.g., frequency of resident assessments) with other units; and (b) a resource community portal (CP) feature aimed at facilitating user interaction and continuing education. The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate whether pain Qis (e.g., frequency and timeliness of pain management interventions) improved with the use of the app (and each feature) compared to the LTC unit’s regular pain assessment practices; (2) evaluate the impact of the use of the PACSLAC-II app and each of the new features on health care professionals’ self-reported stress and burnout levels, and; (3) obtain the perspectives of health care professionals on the app and its specific features through semi-structured interviews. Based on the job-demand resource model, it was anticipated that LTC units assigned to use the app and both features would see the most gains in QI scores, reduced staff stress, and staff satisfaction with the app. This would be followed by units that were assigned to the app with only one feature, and lastly by units that had access to the basic app with no additional features. For the purposes of hypothesis testing, a minimum of 25% improvement in QI scores was considered to reflect meaningful change. This study employed a mixed methods multiple-baseline design across several LTC facilities. Ele…
abstract: Pain is under-assessed and under-addressed among older adults living in long-term care (LTC) facilities. The Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Limited Ability to Communicate-II (PACSLAC-II) is a validated assessment tool for health professionals to assess pain in residents with dementia. A tablet app, based on the PACSLAC-II, has been shown to have clinical utility. This study involved the systematic implementation and evaluation of a new community platform that works in conjunction with an updated PACSLAC-II app. The community platform is comprised of (a) a quality indicator (QI) feature, which allows health care professionals to view and share their unit QI scores (e.g., frequency of resident assessments) with other units; and (b) a resource community portal (CP) feature aimed at facilitating user interaction and continuing education. The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate whether pain Qis (e.g., frequency and timeliness of pain management interventions) improved with the use of the app (and each feature) compared to the LTC unit’s regular pain assessment practices; (2) evaluate the impact of the use of the PACSLAC-II app and each of the new features on health care professionals’ self-reported stress and burnout levels, and; (3) obtain the perspectives of health care professionals on the app and its specific features through semi-structured interviews. Based on the job-demand resource model, it was anticipated that LTC units assigned to use the app and both features would see the most gains in QI scores, reduced staff stress, and staff satisfaction with the app. This would be followed by units that were assigned to the app with only one feature, and lastly by units that had access to the basic app with no additional features. For the purposes of hypothesis testing, a minimum of 25% improvement in QI scores was considered to reflect meaningful change. This study employed a mixed methods multiple-baseline design across several LTC facilities. Ele…
author: Tran, Vivian
language: en
date published: 2022-07
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:03:38Z
provider: University of Regina
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10294/15564

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.82465/4399