gms | German Medical Science

Description: Even though evidence-based practice (EBP) is key to providing the best possible care, its implementation in long-term care (LTC) settings is not yet widespread. Academic-practice partnerships, like Living Labs, are innovative concepts with the potential to enhance care and participatory research, fostering knowledge circulation to improve EBP. They employ user-centered approaches to integrate research and transformational processes in real-life settings. In LTC, these partnerships involve researchers, care recipients, their representatives, nurses and caregivers, facility managers, educators, and other healthcare professionals. User-centeredness and co-creation are key elements, with co-creation within the field of practice shown to bridge the research-practice gap more effectively than traditional unidirectional knowledge transfer strategies. For 25 years, the Living Lab in Ageing and Long-term care at Maastricht University has been a successful example, involving over 180 facilities. From 2021 to 2024, the PraWiDem project adapted, implemented, and evaluated this Limburg Living Lab model in Germany, tailoring it to the specific conditions of German LTC. Similarly, the OPINION Lab at the University of Graz is establishing institutionalized knowledge circulation in Austrian LTC.

This symposium will cover various methodological aspects related to the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Living Lab approach in the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. It will provide insight into how this model can be adapted to different national contexts and its impact on promoting EBP in LTC.

Planned presentation topics:

The “Living Lab in Ageing and Long-term care” – Success factors for the long-term implementation of a network structure for knowledge circulation; Judith Urlings, Maastricht University

• Development of a logic model as basis for a process evaluation of the implementation of the living lab approach in German LTC; Andrea Leinen, University of Cologne
• Co-Creation as key element throughout the implementation of the Living Lab approach in German LTC; Anja Bieber, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
• Degree of implementation as well as barriers and facilitators of the implementation of the Living Lab approach in German LTC – results of the process evaluation of the PraWiDem project; Felix Bühler, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Swantje Seismann-Petersen, University of Cologne
• Collaborative development of a practice-oriented and evidence-based toolkit for non-pharmacological pain management in Austrian LTC; Daniela Schoberer, Medical University of Graz
• Discussion chaired by Prof. Dr. Gabriele Meyer, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

Competing interests: Keine Interessenkonflikte.