WHAT
This study, Animating Evidence: An Innovative Approach to Sharing Knowledge on Long-Term Care Research in Atlantic Canada, will share research findings from the ARC LTC projects through the use of short, animated videos as an innovative tool for sharing long-term care (LTC) researching findings. The study aims to:
1. Develop a series of short, animated videos about LTC staff quality of work life and well-being in Atlantic Canada.
2. Increase reach of research findings from the ARC LTC group to a broad audience through the dissemination of videos.
3. Build capacity for responsive research on LTC by engaging knowledge users in an iterative process of shaping LTC research communication.
4. Measure and evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of animated videos as a tool for sharing knowledge about research on LTC.
A key outcome of this project will be making LTC research findings more readily available and digestible to a broad audience, including people working or living in LTC, their family/friends, policymakers, and the public. The videos will raise awareness about LTC staff quality of work life and well-being in Atlantic Canada.
WHO
This study is being led by Dr. Heather Dicks, postdoctoral fellow on the ARC LTC project, with co-leads Dr. Janice Keefe, nominated principal investigator on the ARC LTC project and Dr. Kelly O’Neil, postdoctoral fellow at Mount Saint Vincent University. Dr. Dicks and colleagues were awarded $22 500 from the Long-Term Care Innovation Pilot Fund, Mount Saint Vincent University for this project. It is funded from September 2025 to August 2026.
HOW
The study team will take the results form our ongoing data analysis and turn them into short videos that are clear, easy to understand summaries with key takeaway messages. To help bring these summaries to life, we will work with the Digital Media Zone at MSVU to create these short videos.
Before the first video is released, we will hold three focus groups with LTC staff, stakeholders, and members public who have an interest in LTC. These sessions will help us to understand if the videos are an effective and appropriate way to share research findings, and what improvements we should make before sharing them more widely.
Five videos on different topic areas will be developed and released between September 2025 and August 2026. These videos will be shared with study participants and posted publicly on ARC LTC social media platforms. Each video will include a prompt inviting viewers to give feedback – either by commenting or filling out a short online survey. This feedback will help guide topics for future videos.
To measure the impact of the videos, we will track social media engagement (such as views, likes, and shared) and analyze feedback from the online surveys. This will help us understand if videos are an effective and appropriate way to share research findings.
Contacts:
Dr. Heather Dicks, Principal Investigator, Animating Evidence Email: Heather.Dicks@msvu.ca Telephone: 902-457-6217
Emily Hubley, Project Manager, Animating Evidence Email: Emily.Hubley1@msvu.ca Telephone: 902-457-5529
Atlantic Research Collaboration on Long-Term Care, General Project Inquiries Email: arcltc@msvu.ca
Funded by: Long-Term Care Innovation Pilot Fund, Mount Saint Vincent University
