Background/Aims: Challenges translating guidelines into everyday practice can lead to persistent gaps between research evidence and actual care. Closing these gaps is essential for improving patient outcomes—especially for individuals with aphasia post-stroke, who have difficulty communicating in healthcare settings and experience poorer stroke outcomes, compared to those without aphasia. Screening all patients with stroke for communication difficulties has been identified by clinicians and people with lived experience as the top priority evidence-practice gap to address in acute aphasia care at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. The study aimed to co-design and implement a theoretically informed intervention to address this gap.
Method: Mixed-methods knowledge translation study modelled on the Knowledge to Action Framework. Multidisciplinary clinicians providing acute stroke care were surveyed regarding their perceptions of the barriers and facilitators to implementing communication screening. These were mapped to the Theoretical Domains Framework and the Behaviour Change Wheel, and an intervention was co-designed to specifically target identified barriers.
Results: A five-part intervention was developed through a co-design process. This included: i) the development and implementation of an education module; ii) the development of a communication screening form; iii) the delivery of communication screening training; iv) routine auditing of clinical practice; and v) embedding communication screening into local policies and procedures.
Conclusion: A comprehensive understanding of local barriers and facilitators resulted in the co-design of a multifactorial, theory informed and tailored intervention plan to improve aphasia screening.