Research Projects

Green Care Farms

Purpose: To co-design, implement, and explore the impact of Green Care Farms (GCFs) within Canadian settings.
Setting: Two long-term care homes have implemented Green Care Farm day programs, one home in rural Ontario and one in British Columbia.

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In-Touch

Purpose: The In-Touch study will adapt, implement, and evaluate a non-pharmacological, palliative care intervention for people with advanced dementia who live in long-term care (LTC) homes, their family/friend care partners, and staff, using a cluster randomized controlled trial design in 56 care homes in 7 European countries. Dr. Sharon Kaasalainen is leading the Care Partner Involvement and Engagement work of the In-Touch trial, including an international Care Partner Advisory Group (CPAG). CPAG members include past or present care partners (i.e., family or friend caregivers) of persons with advanced dementia living in a LTC home, from partnering countries. Members of the CPAG use their lived experience and expertise to review and provide input, advice and feedback on the In-Touch intervention and support study activities. The ongoing involvement of CPAG members will help to ensure that the In-Touch intervention and dissemination activities are meaningful to people with advanced dementia and their care partners.

Focus groups and individual interviews with diverse Canadian care partner advisors (e.g., those who identify as ethnically diverse or LGBTQ+) will also support the co-creation of a virtual toolkit (i.e., a series of virtual learning modules and information resources/tools). The toolkit will engage care partners and members of the public as advisors in research, and will provide resources, information, and tips for working with diverse care partners and families of people with dementia in Canada.
Setting: Participating countries include Ireland, United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Portugal, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, and Canada.

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Health Canada

Purpose: The SPA-LTC team completed a 5-year knowledge translation grant in March 2026 to embed a palliative approach into long-term care homes across Canada.  The goal of this proposed knowledge translation project is to increase the uptake of the palliative approach in Canadian LTC homes by curating, adapting, and disseminating resources for direct care, program development and staff training, and consolidating these resources in an accessible national repository.
Setting: National across all provinces and territories

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iCAN-ACP

Purpose: To encourage more frequent, earlier and better conversations between older adults, families and the health care team by introducing and evaluating advance care planning tools
Setting: Long-term care homes, family doctor’s offices and hospitals across Canada

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Namaste Care

Purpose: To explore the launch and usefulness of a new program called Namaste Care and measure how the program changed quality of life of residents with late-stage dementia.
Setting: Two long-term care homes in Canada.

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PHSI

Purpose: To test the feasibility and acceptability of the SPA-LTC model across long-term care homes in four different provinces.
Setting: Long-term care homes in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba.

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Recreational Equine Assisted Participaction (R.E.A.P.)

Purpose: There has been a growing recognition of non-pharmacological approaches to support people with dementia. One example is equine (horse)-assisted activities which involves interaction with horses like petting, grooming, riding, or observing. The aims of this study were to measure the feasibility, acceptability, and observed effects of the Recreational Equine Assisted Participaction (R.E.A.P.) program for residents living in one long-term care (LTC) home.
Setting: One long-term care home in rural Ontario, Canada.

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