Currently submitted to: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Apr 30, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Apr 30, 2026 - Jun 25, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
IMMERSE-2 IMpleMenting Effective infection prevention and control in ReSidential aged carE through Communities of Practice: protocol for a before-and-after study
ABSTRACT
Background:
In Australian residential aged care, infection prevention and control (IPC) lead nurses are a key part of the IPC program. IPC Leads are often the main IPC contact and provide support to staff to improve IPC and resident outcomes. To enhance their competence and self-efficacy, IPC Leads need to engage in ongoing role development. Connecting with others IPC Leads, learning together and sharing ideas and resources could also be beneficial. Communities of practice (CoPs) have been shown to improve self-efficacy and job satisfaction by fostering belonging, peer learning and problem-solving. Drawing on social learning theory, CoPs encourage learning with and from one another to explore and iteratively develop practice. This study draws on the CoP literature and builds on our previous pilot of a CoP for IPC lead nurses in one state of Australia, which found promising impacts on confidence and practice change.
Objective:
This study will evaluate CoPs for IPC Leads working in Australian residential aged care. Primarily the study will assess for change in IPC Leads’ self-efficacy. It will also explore job satisfaction, IPC practice improvement and assess the acceptability and feasibility of CoPs.
Methods:
A before-and-after study design using multi-methods. We will recruit IPC Leads from across Australia to participate in the CoPs. The CoPs will be implemented over 12 months, with online sessions held monthly for 30-60 minutes each. Baseline and 12-month follow-up surveys of IPC Leads’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction, and audits of IPC practice will be conducted. At 12-months follow-up, surveys and interviews with IPC Leads will be assess acceptability and feasibility of the CoPs and explore case examples of IPC Leads facilitating practice change. Researcher notes and costings data collected will be used to further evaluate the feasibility and fidelity of the CoPs.
Results:
This project was funded in October 2024 and commenced in February 2025. Recruitment of IPC Leads began in March 2026. The CoPs are expected to commence in June-July 2026. Data collection will commence in June 2026 and is expected to be completed by January 2028.
Conclusions:
Findings will create new research knowledge in the field of CoPs and knowledge translation in the aged care sector and will inform the sustainability and potential for future scale-up of this collaborative social learning approach. Clinical Trial: Not applicable
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