Table 3.

Initial mechanisms identified across three key settings, with example quotations

	Public hospital services n=14	Residential and community aged care n=6	Private practitioners n=4
Motivation and building confidence to engage in change	Improved job satisfaction and interest in dementia care were motivators ‘I hope to improve the service that I'm delivering and gain knowledge and confidence’ E10	Encouragement to improve services after stress of changes and interest in dementia care ‘if it improves the quality of life of our residents it’s worth doing’ E11	Broadening business goals and interest in dementia care ‘it just provides us with another option that we can then promote to future clients for the business’ E04
Accountability to strengthen commitment to change	Formal staged schedule to fit in with time constraints ‘I think the structure of that agents for change… with how we develop a project as such, will help me’C06	Structure to guide process and provide flexibility ‘…guided through and supported through the whole thing and not left to your own devices’ O05	Regular reminders to keep the collaboratives as a priority ‘if you’re doing it on your own, it’ll sort of get pushed to the back again’ E08
Sense of identity reinforced	Professional leadership in services ‘I think it is a really transferrable skill in demonstrating leadership and giving people opportunities to step up’ S13	Commitment to improved quality of services for people with dementia ‘I’m very passionate about people with dementia so with my values I want to make sure that they’re maintaining their independence and participating in things they want to participate in.’ O04	Specialist provider to people with dementia ‘I’m aiming for our OT practice to be specialist in services for older people’ O03
Collective learning increases mutual support	Sharing knowledge for improvement was valued ‘…breadth of the experience… from the team itself will be really valuable to share’ C06	Learning from others and comparing interventions helped assess services ‘…you can pool your ideas and see where the problems are, who’s having success in certain areas’ E05	Sharing knowledge enhanced satisfaction in the work ‘Feeling confident that I'm following best practice which, for me, creates better job satisfaction’ C05
Doing it together increased safety to learn and make mistakes	Overcoming isolation and providing confidence to learn ‘I really just want that contact because… I was quite out of my depth, going I don’t know if I’m going in the right direction’ E09	Re-energising by working with like-minded others ‘Great to have so many likeminded people in the one place.’ C08	Practical guided approach motivated participation ‘I see it as being more practical, which appeals to me’ O07
Credibility increases trust and acceptance of the process	Valued evidence base and shared focus on improvement in process ‘I mean, the evidence is really there and it’s exciting to work with people who are on that same train of thought. That’s the joy of it’ O09	Evidence base fits with accreditation standards ‘…recognition that it’s obviously a project that would be of interest to the organisation’C08	Connection between best practice and research ‘…people Australia-wide who have been involved in it and are basing their practice on research and the evidence’C05

OT, occupational therapy.