The PULSAR Specialist Care protocol: a stepped-wedge cluster randomized control trial a training intervention for community mental health teams in recovery-oriented practice

Background: Recovery features strongly in Australian mental health policy; however, evidence is limited for the efficacy of recovery-oriented practice at the service level. This paper describes the Principles Unite Local Services Assisting Recovery (PULSAR) Specialist Care trial protocol for a recovery-oriented practice training intervention delivered to specialist mental health services staff. The primary aim is to evaluate whether adult consumers accessing services where staff have received the intervention report superior recovery outcomes compared to adult consumers accessing services where staff have not yet received the intervention. A qualitative sub-study aims to examine staff and consumer views on implementing recovery-oriented practice. A process evaluation sub-study aims to articulate important explanatory variables affecting the interventions rollout and outcomes. Methods: The mixed methods design incorporates a two-step stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) examining cross-sectional data from three phases, and nested qualitative and process evaluation sub-studies. Participating specialist mental health care services in Melbourne, Victoria are divided into 14 clusters with half randomly allocated to receive the staff training in year one and half in year two. Research participants are consumers aged 18-75 years who attended the cluster within a previous three-month period either at baseline, 12 (step 1) or 24 months (step 2). In the two nested sub-studies, participation extends to cluster staff. The primary outcome is the Questionnaire about the Process of Recovery collected from 756 consumers (252 each at baseline, step 1, step 2). Secondary and other outcomes measuring well-being, service satisfaction and health economic impact are collected from a subset of 252 consumers (63 at baseline; 126 at step 1; 63 at step 2) via interviews. Interview based longitudinal data are also collected 12 months apart from 88 consumers with a psychotic disorder diagnosis (44 at baseline, step 1; 44 at step 1, step 2). cRCT data will be analyzed using multilevel mixed-effects modelling to account for clustering and some repeated measures, supplemented by thematic analysis of qualitative interview data. The process evaluation will draw on qualitative, quantitative and documentary data. Discussion: Findings will provide an evidence-base for the continued transformation of Australian mental health service frameworks toward recovery

The leadership and workgroup requirements that organizations need to ignite and fan the flames of innovation

Abstract not availabl

A multidisciplinary approach to assess readiness for change in enterprise system implementations

Enterprise systems are information management systems that have broad business functional scope. They provide companies with the ability to improve information flows across the entire organisation enabling improved decision making and action. Although companies face numerous complexities in enterprise system implementations, examination of critical success factors (CSF) has provided insight into successful implementation practices. The main CSFs affecting enterprise system success are people related. In this paper we will identify these factors in the context of change management. A path model is developed incorporating I/O and psychology disciplines demonstrating individual contextual and implementation variables implicated in implementation success. Further, we argue that consideration of antecedents and interactions are essential for understanding change impacts and for development of an effective change management strategy

Measuring attitudes to HRIS implementation: A field study to inform implementation methodology

Scientific research on employees during pre-implementation phases of human resource information systems (HRIS) is difficult for a number of reasons. First, the constraints of practitioner research in terms of sample sizes, compliance factors and difficulties with obtaining control or comparison groups discourage research initiatives. Second, project management methods that emphasize cost and time compliance often prohibit the types of delays that research can impose. This study attempts to use psychological research methods combined with project management techniques to inform HRIS implementation methodology. It provides a model of key determinants of successful information systems implementation that should be considered in future projects implementing information systems or other new technologies. This is a first attempt to discover effective implementation methodologies associated with HRIS in the pre-implementation phase. The research showed that a critical component for the success of the implementation of new HRIS systems is to understand the staff groups’ particular needs, concerns and opinions. This study identified important factors associated with the implementation of new human resource information systems. From these findings we can see that the conditions that support successful implementation for HR staff differ from those for line managers. This information is important when designing implementation methodologies and change management strategies

Predicting uptake of technology innovations in online family dispute resolution services: An application and extension of the UTAUT

Parental separation can be psychologically distressing for families - particularly when conflict between parents is high. In Australia, reforms to Family Law legislation have introduced mandatory mediation, which has increased the need for community-based family dispute resolution (FDR) services. Providers have responded to these needs with innovative solutions, including online computer-assisted mediation technologies. We evaluated the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) within the context of an Australian online family dispute resolution (OFDR) system. The model was extended to include trust and personal web innovativeness, which we proposed would be implicated in the intentions of staff to use a family mediation service. A cross-sectional web-survey methodology was employed to collect data from 127 staff in the implementation organization. The measurement and structural models were evaluated with partial least squares (PLS) modeling and the results provided some support for our hypotheses. Specifically, the core UTAUT model was partially validated in this context. Moreover, effort expectancy mediated the effects of trust in technology on behavioral intention. Contrary to expectations, trust in the organization and innovativeness did not produce significant effects on intention. Practically, these results suggest that pre-contemplation technology acceptance research can have utility for change management and system design