Evidence Library

Abstract:

This paper describes the involvement of members of a patient and public involvement (PPI) group in a study that explored the views and experiences of living and dying amongst older people living in care homes. The authors report that there were three main areas where the PPI influenced the process:

• Recruitment – the PPI group members helped to shape the whole recruitment process and introduced the study to residents and staff. They were able to take the time and care to obtain consent from older residents with sensory impairments or difficulty communicating. This resulted in greater recruitment rates than in other studies in care homes.
  
  
• Safeguarding – the PPI group members helped provide support to interviewees if they became upset during the interviews. They also provided the team with advice for example on talking to people living with dementia.
  
  
• Interpretation of findings – PPI group members facilitated group meetings with residents in care homes to reflect and discuss the themes that emerged from the research. This provided different and often more reflective insights on the significance of the findings for the participants.

The authors comment on some of the challenges of the involvement, in particular around negotiating the boundaries and extent of the involvement of PPI group members. They conclude that future studies would benefit from developing job descriptions for PPI members and more formal means of setting out respective expectations.

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Categories: health
social care
Designing research
Managing research
Undertaking research
Analysing and interpreting
impact on research
impact on service users involved
impact of public involvement
journal article
Recruitment

Date Entered: 2012/02/28

Date Edited: 2012/02/28