Involving people who are living in care homes and their family and friends in research: A report for researchers

2014 Conference

Abstract: Improving the lives and health of older people living in care homes is a major UK government priority. To facilitate this, the Enabling Research in Care Homes (ENRICH) initiative was launched in 2012. Although care home research has been conducted for some time, this represents a new landscape for many researchers. This prompted us to consider what guidance could be offered to researchers to ensure meaningful and ethical involvement of residents and their families.

In February 2013 we held a workshop, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Design Service for Yorkshire and Humber (RDS-YH). This resulted in a draft report developed by experienced researchers, care home staff and members of the public. We then met with care home residents to get their views on the report, to gather their insights and suggestions, which were then incorporated into the report.

When working in care homes, the general principles of public involvement still apply, but there are issues which are particular to care homes. In this report we:

1. Provide a brief introduction to involving people in research
2. Describe different sorts of care homes
3. Provide some guidance on involving people in care homes in research, using examples from our own work
4. Provide some case studies

In this talk we will discuss the challenges of research and involvement in this setting and present some of the recommendations from the report. We will also discuss our own experience of engaging with care home residents and relatives as part of this project.