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Introduction: Healthy Homes and Neighbourhoods (HHAN), an integrated care programme in the Sydney Local Health District (SLHD), seeks to address the needs of disadvantaged families through care coordination, as one of its components. This research aims to determine for whom, when and why the care coordination component of HHAN works, and establish the reported outcomes for clients, service-providers and partner organisations.Methods: Critical realist methodology was utilised to undertake a qualitative evaluation of the impact of care coordination. Purposive sampling was used to select a total of 37 participants for interview, including consumers, service-providers and key stakeholders. Thematic analysis was undertaken to derive the major modes of intervention of HHAN, and data representing these elements was coded and summarised under contexts, mechanisms and outcomes.Results: Analysis indicates that care coordination has a positive impact on clients’ sense of independence, self-awareness and outlook on life. Trust and favourable interpersonal relations were identified as major underlying mechanisms for a successful client-provider working relationship. The identified modes of intervention facilitating positive consumer outcomes included accessibility, flexibility and service navigation. Persistent siloes in health and systemic resistance to collaboration was seen to hinder effective care delivery.Conclusions: This study suggests that a care coordination model may be effective in engaging disadvantaged families in healthcare, assist them in navigating the health system and can lead to beneficial health and social outcomes. Successful implementation of care coordination requires flexible programme design and experienced and skilful clinicians to fulfil the care coordinator role. There is a need to appreciate the negative impact that the complex and siloed health system can have on disadvantaged families.

Introduction: The Healthy Homes and Neighbourhoods (HHAN) Integrated Care Program seeks to enhance vulnerable family engagement with health and social services through a care coordination model. Besides servicing families in Sydney, HHAN has also established place-based initiatives (PBIs) in areas of disadvantage such as Redfern. The Redfern PBI co-locates HHAN with housing, drug and alcohol services, and financial and legal services. This integration aims to facilitate service access and multi-agency support for vulnerable families in Redfern. Hence, this study aims to evaluate for whom, when and why HHAN’s PBI at Redfern works, or not, and what are its outcomes. Methods: The project utilises critical realist methodology to undertake a qualitative evaluation of the impact of the PBI on clients, services and the community. Purposive sampling was used to identify 21 participants including HHAN clients, HHAN staff and stakeholders (HHAN partners). In-depth, semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded and analysed using a context (C), intervention (I), mechanism (M) outcome (O) (CIMO) approach to abductive analysis. Results: Five key CIMO configurations of the Redfern PBI emerged – whole-of-family involvement, flexibility, trust, building connections and co-location. Whilst each theory had specific outcomes, overall client outcomes included improved access to services, better outlook, empowerment and engagement with services. Service outcomes included increased collaboration and foundation for integration between HHAN and other services. Negative outcomes included lack of full integration, the risk associated with integration and difficulty evaluating impact. Conclusion: This study successfully refined the program theory for subsequent use in later implementation of critical realist evaluation studies.

Introduction: In March 2014, the New South Wales (NSW) Government (Australia) announced the NSW Integrated Care Strategy. The NSW Government’s Integrated Care Strategy funding enabled the establishment of an integrated care initiative called Healthy Homes and Neighbourhoods (HHAN). The Initiative was designed as a population-based, family-centered, care-coordination network that functioned across agencies to assist vulnerable families to navigate the health and social-care system, to keep themselves and their children safe, and in doing so, promote social cohesiveness. The evaluation framework is described. Methods: Since integrated care initiatives are an example of complex interventions in health and social care, we underpinned this programme of development, research and evaluation by the critical realist metatheory of science and the NSW Health Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, using the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) Framework for evaluating complex interventions.1 We adapted the iterative approach of development, feasibility/piloting, evaluation and implementation of the MRC framework to include critical realist, participatory, continuous and theory driven elements. Discussion: Both the 2008 UK Medical Research Council framework for evaluating complex interventions, and our previously reported critical realist methodology, provided the tools to enable an iterative approach to development, design, testing and continuous evaluation. The philosophical paradigms underpinning each approach are different. Both the NSW Health and MRC frameworks were developed from in the “logical positivist” inductive and deductive reasoning traditions with a strong focus on activities and outcomes but little emphasis on process. That weakness was been recognised and the MRC subsequently endorsed advice on process evaluation for complex interventions which accommodated the realist approach incorporated here. Conclusion: Integrated care initiatives are examples of complex interventions in health and social care. The interventions are multi-layered and operationalization is strongly influenced by both historical and current context. This aspect alone makes it imperative that the methodology used is post-positive and takes ontologically stratified context into account. The NSW Health Monitoring and Evaluation Framework did not make provision for assessment of context or mechanism of effect. We describe here a multilevel approach including a continuous improvement approach through constant comparison and triangulation of mixed method findings. Utilising the MRC framework for evaluating complex interventions within a critical realist methodology, enabled us to study both mechanisms of effect and context. Lessons learned: Evaluation of integrated care interventions will require a pluralist approach to methodology. It is possible to design evaluation approaches that allow study of context, mechanism, reach and efficacy in a complex layered design as used for integrated care initiatives. Limitations: The approach utilised was contrained by the requirements of the policy and funding organisation. We did not fully explore the application of Theory of Change and complexity science within the MRC framework. Suggestions for future research: We recommend that further theoretical and applied research be undertaken to advance the methods and tools available for evaluation of complex multi-layered integrated care initiatives. Reference: 1. Craig P, Dieppe P, Macintyre S, Michie S, Nazareth I, Petticrew M. Developing and evaluating complex interventions: the new Medical Research Council guidance. BMJ. 2008;337:a1655

Introduction : In July 2015 Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) implemented an integrated care initiative for vulnerable families in the inner West region of Sydney, Australia. That initiative was designed as a cross-agency care coordination network that would ensure that vulnerable families: had their complex health and social needs met; kept themselves and their children safe; and were connected to society. We will describe the development of the integrated care design that drew on earlier realist causal and program theoretical work. Theory/Methods : Realist causal and program theory were used to inform the collaborative design of initiatives for vulnerable families. The collaborative design process included: identification of desirable and undesirable outcomes and contextual factors, consultation forums, interagency planning, and development of a service proposal. Results : The program theory mechanisms identified included: family-provider trust, willingness to share power, co-operation, Information, and building self-help skills. The Design Elements included: Wrap around services, place-based initiatives, care coordination, sustained nurse home visiting, primary care support, family group conferencing, targeted parenting, social media, outcome monitoring, workforce development and realist program evaluation. Discussion : The Design Elements included: identification of vulnerable families; care coordination; evidence-informed intervention(s); general Practice engagement and support; family health improvement; placed-based neighbourhood initiatives; interagency system change and planning; monitoring of individual and family outcomes; and evaluation. Conclusions : The design study described advances our earlier empirical and programme design studies toward the implementation of a full whole-of-government integrated health and social care initiative. That initiative was designed as a cross-agency care coordination network that would ensure that vulnerable families: had their complex health and social needs met; kept themselves and their children safe; and were connected to society. In so doing we aim to break intergenerational cycles of poverty, violence and crime, poor education and employment opportunities, psychopathology, and poor lifestyle and health behaviours, through strengthening family resiliency, improving access to services, and addressing the social determinants of health and well-being. Lessons learned : In undertaking this study we identified the importance of our earlier hierarchal program analysis for identifying the elements for the full design. The application of theory added rigour to the design of integrated care initiatives. The design benefited from the inclusion of elements of population health, primary care, consumer engagement, community engagement and social determinants of health. Limitations : The analysis and design process did not include a full critical realist analysis of pre-existing context. Consequently existing structural, cultural, relationship and agency barriers and enablers were not fully analysed as part of the design process. Suggestions for future research : Further methodological research to develop: 1) tools that can be rapidly applied during the design process to identify pre-existing contextual barriers and enablers; and 2) approaches to build the knowledge of context into the final design.

Background: Realist philosophy and methodology is increasingly being explicitly used in the field of integrated care to research the extant context, structure and mechanisms at play, and to design and evaluation interventions. Philosophic realism is the view that entities exist independently of our perception or our theories about them. While the realist philosophy underpins much of modern health and social science, it is only recently that this philosophical approach has been popularised within main stream health and social science literature. Realist research methodology is increasingly being described in research areas that are relevant to the study of integrated care, namely, organisational management, information science, social epidemiology, economics, and health services evaluation. Importantly realist approaches are increasingly being used in mixed method research designs and to elucidate the processes at play in experimental and quasi-experimental studies. Realist researchers seek to explain the underlying “cause” or mechanisms that generate observed phenomenon. The realist understanding of how the world is ontology includes the notion of a hidden or “real” domain where mechanisms generate forces that result in the phenomena which we observe. Realists also view the world as consisting of strata or layers of reality which may interact with other layers to produce new mechanism. This approach is proving useful for studying and developing theory about complex health and social care systems, and then designing and evaluating possible interventions. Over the last number of years a number of realist studies have been presented at the International Foundation of Integrated Care conferences including: realist studies of context and mechanisms; realist design of integrated care interventions; realist synthesis of literature; and realist evaluations of integrated-care interventions. The methodologies, and the dialectical debates, are complex, and therefore, deserving of special consideration within the Integrated Care community. This preliminary workshop will support evaluators and researchers to use realist methods in integrated care and other complex evaluations. Because realist evaluation was initially developed using smaller-scale programs, methods need to be modified for large scale programs, while remaining consistent with underlying methodological principles. The workshop will discuss the value of and the dilemmas involved in using realist methods for large and complex programs, and demonstrate strategies to address the dilemmas. Aims and Objectives: 1- Present and discuss the basic tenants of realist research, design and evaluation as it applies to the large scale and complex programs such as integrated care 2- Discuss the scope and purpose of a Realist Research, Design and Evaluation for Integrated Care Special Interest Group RIC-SIG 3- Modify the scope and purpose of a Realist Research, Design and Evaluation for Integrated Care - SIG Format: Group Discussion Target Audience: Integrated care practitioners and researchers who are familiar with realist research including the current focus on critical realism and realist evaluation Learning and Takeaway: The workshop will define the scope and purpose of a SIG for Realist Research, Design and Evaluation for Integrated Care