Involving stakeholders in health services research: developing Alberta's resident classification system for long-term...

Little attention has been directed in Canada to identifying stakeholders at the administrative policy level to whom relevant health services research information can be targeted. This article describes a case study in which key stakeholders (long-term care facility owners, operators, and care providers) were explicitly defined not only as targets of original research information to inform administrative public policy but also as collaborators in the research process and dissemination of results. The research involved development of a classification system to measure resident care requirements in the province's nursing homes and auxiliary hospitals. The classification system formed the basis of a new government administrative policy for allocating public funds to these facilities based on levels of care. The authors describe the rationale for involving stakeholders in the research process, the role of stakeholders as collaborators, and lessons learned from the Alberta experience. Examples are presented of how stakeholders can contribute to the health services research process and outcome: by providing experiential knowledge related to the research outcome, anticipating and overcoming potential problems with policy implementation, facilitating policy-oriented learning across stakeholder groups, assisting in the transfer of research information to wider stakeholder audiences, and promoting acceptance for policy change.