Capacity development was a core commitment of the IMPACT program of research. IMPACT supported general capacity development for:
- designing and implementing innovations;
- engaging in collaboration and partnerships;
- designing and implementing deliberative processes;
- conducting policy- and practice-relevant research;
- embedding research findings regarding access-to-care for vulnerable populations into practice and policy; and,
- participating in a developmental approach to evaluation.
Capacity development activities targeted members of the:
- research team;
- LIP Core and Management Teams.
Some of these capacity building activities also involved members of the LIP community consultations.
Capacity development activities focusing on each of these areas may include:
- sharing of published and grey literature related to leading practices in each of the areas listed above;
- opportunities for sharing lessons learned and developing more in-depth understanding of core concepts (e.g., blogs, wikis, discussion groups, webinars and mentoring relationships);
- targeted training opportunities during face-to-face sessions (within LIPs and amongst the research team);
- secondments between policy, practice, and research environments; and
- student mentoring, training, and exchange opportunities.
Through these activities, participants (i.e., researchers, decision-makers, clinical practitioners, and community members) across health care and service organisations develop:
- a common understanding about access to CBPHC for vulnerable populations;
- ability to improve access to CBPHC at the local level;
- local capacity to engage in deliberative processes for public consultation and collective decision-making.
What is LIP capacity?
The success of the LIP is dependent on the development of capacity in core areas (i.e., evaluation, implementation, partnership, and community building). Through capacity building components, strategies are implemented to support development and evaluation of capacity in these core areas. The intent is not that all stakeholders will develop capacity in all areas but that the LIP will be able to demonstrate increased capacity in relevant areas in order to support design and implementation of innovations.
| Core area | Specific components of this capacity area |
| Evaluation |
|
| Implementation |
|
| Partnership |
|
| Community building |
|
the consequence of the interface between the five dimensions of consumer ability and five dimensions of service accessibility (Levesque, Harris & Russell, 2013)
Access is a consequence of a dynamic process. See proposed primary health care model (Levesque et al., 2013 & Obrist et al., 2007).
Contextual and demographic factors are assumed to influence the service and consumer dimensions and need to be measured/monitored in each partnership.
The 5 dimensions of accessibility of services:
1) Approachability;
2) Acceptability;
3) Availability and accommodation;
4) Affordability;
5) Appropriateness.
The 5 dimensions of ability of consumers:
1) Ability to perceive;
2) Ability to seek;
3) Ability to reach;
4) Ability to pay;
5) Ability to engage.
Access to community-based primary health care is indicated by first-contact accessibility (primary indicator of access): The ease with which a person can obtain needed community-based primary health care (including advice and support) within a time frame appropriate to the urgency of the problem (Haggerty et al., 2007).
At a population level, access to community-based primary health care is indicated by assumed outcomes of poor access (secondary indicator of access): high rates of emergency department visits, avoidable hospitalizations and emergency department presentations for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions.
groups whose demographic, geographic, economic and/or cultural characteristics impede or compromise their access to community-based primary health care services
community-based primary healthcare
