Can conference participation lead to changes in clinical and research practice in stroke care? A survey of stroke conference attendees

Dana Wong; Shanthi A. Ramanathan; Katharine Baker; Elizabeth A. Lynch

doi:10.1071/IB23081

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Can conference participation lead to changes in clinical and research practice in stroke care? A survey of stroke conference attendees

Dana Wong

^A ^* , Shanthi A. Ramanathan

^B , Katharine Baker

^A and Elizabeth A. Lynch

^C

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Vic., Australia.

^B Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

^C College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: d.wong@latrobe.edu.au

Handling Editor: Petrea Cornwell

Brain Impairment 25, IB23081 https://doi.org/10.1071/IB23081

Submitted: 24 March 2023 Accepted: 20 April 2023 Published: 19 January 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Background

Conferences are a widespread method of research dissemination; however, their impact on practice is not well understood empirically. We aimed to investigate how conference participation influences clinical and research practice in the stroke field and to explore which presentation formats are most impactful.

Methods

Clinicians, researchers and doctoral students who attended a multidisciplinary stroke conference were invited to participate. Surveys were administered at the conference and 3 months later. Both surveys contained questions about how respondents remember and apply information learnt at conferences in their clinical and/or research practice.

Results

Baseline survey responses from 120 conference participants were analysed (80.8% female, 69.0% clinicians, 60.8% aged 31–50 years), and 53 participants completed the follow-up survey. Of the 87 clinician respondents, 73 (83.9%) reported that their clinical practice had changed as a result of attending conferences. Workshops incorporating skill demonstrations were rated most useful for changing clinical practice, whereas oral presentations detailing methodology were more influential on research practice. Attending conferences was rated more impactful on clinical practice than reading journal articles or textbooks.

Conclusion

Conference presentations can be a useful method for disseminating research findings to influence clinical practice and should be considered by researchers to maximise the translation and impact of their work.

Keywords: clinical implementation, conference participation, evidence‐based practice, interprofessional education, knowledge translation, multidisciplinary conference, research dissemination, stroke rehabilitation.

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