RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Implementing shared decision-making in interprofessional home care teams (the IPSDM-SW study): protocol for a stepped wedge cluster randomised trial JF BMJ Open JO BMJ Open FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group SP e014023 DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014023 VO 6 IS 11 A1 France Légaré A1 Nathalie Brière A1 Dawn Stacey A1 Guy Lacroix A1 Sophie Desroches A1 Serge Dumont A1 Kimberly D Fraser A1 Louis-Paul Rivest A1 Pierre J Durand A1 Stéphane Turcotte A1 Monica Taljaard A1 Henriette Bourassa A1 Lise Roy A1 Geneviève Painchaud Guérard YR 2016 UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/11/e014023.abstract AB Introduction The frail elderly in Canada face a tough decision when they start to lose autonomy: whether to stay at home or move to another location. This study seeks to scale up and evaluate the implementation of shared decision-making (SDM) in interprofessional (IP) home care teams caring for elderly clients or their caregivers facing a decision about staying at home or moving elsewhere.Methods A stepped wedge cluster randomised trial involving 8 Health and Social Service Centers (HSSCs) will be conducted with IP home care teams. HSSCs are the unit of randomisation. A decision guide will be passively distributed to all of the participating HSSCs at the beginning of the project. The participating HSSCs will then be randomised to 1 of 4 intervention start times, separated by 7-month intervals. The primary outcome is whether or not clients and caregivers assumed an active role in decision-making, assessed with a modified version of the Control Preferences Scale. The intervention, targeted at IP home care teams, consists of a 1.5 hour online tutorial and a 3.5 hour skills building workshop in IP SDM. Clients will be eligible for outcome assessment if they (1) are aged ≥65; (2) are receiving care from the IP home care team of the enrolled HSSCs; (3) have made a decision about whether to stay at home or move to another location during the recruitment periods; (4) are able to read, understand and write French or English; (5) can give informed consent. If clients are not able to provide informed consent, their primary caregiver will become the eligible participant.Ethics and dissemination Ethics committee review approval has been obtained from the Multicenter Ethics Committee of CISSS-Laval. Results will be disseminated at conferences, on websites of team members and in peer-reviewed and professional journals intended for policymakers and managers.Trial registration number NCT02592525, Pre-results.