Journal Article

Activity provider-facilitated patient and public involvement with care home residents

Meyer, Julienne, Goodman, Claire, Jones, Liz, Micklewright, Kerry, Killett, Anne, Akdur, Gizdem, Blades, Pamela, Biswas, Priti, Woodhead, Hilary, Irvine, Lisa, Ravenscroft, Natalie

2024

Overview

Background In care home research, residents are rarely included in patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) despite their lived experiences of day-to-day care. This paper reports on a novel approach to PPIE, developed in response to Covid-19, and utilised in a large UK-based study focused on care homes. PPIE sessions were facilitated on behalf of the research team by Activity Providers (APs) already working within the care homes. This paper provides an account of how PPIE with care home residents can be achieved. Methods An exploratory design was used to see if it was possible to support “in-house” PPIE, with researchers working at a distance in partnership with care home staff. The National Activity Providers Association recruited five APs working in care homes. A series of optional discussion or activity sessions were developed by the research team in partnership with APs, tailored to reflect the research topics of interest and to make sessions accessible to residents with differing needs. Results APs facilitated four rounds of PPIE with up to 56 residents per topic, including individuals living with cognitive and communication impairments. Topics discussed included residents’ views on data use, measuring quality of life and the prioritisation of care-related data for study collection. Feedback from the residents was observed to have unexpected and positive changes to participating care homes’ practice. APs valued participation and working with researchers. They identified acquisition of new skills and insights into residents’ thoughts and preferences as direct benefits. Challenges included time pressures on APs and managing emotive feedback. APs were able to approach residents at times convenient to them and in ways that best suited their individual needs. PPIE with residents provided different perspectives, particularly with respect to the importance of different types of data, and constructive challenge about some of the research team’s assumptions. Conclusions PPIE with APs as research partners is a promising approach to working in an inclusive and participatory way with care home residents. The voices of older care home residents, including those living with cognitive or communicative impairments, are important for the successful and meaningful completion of research. Plain English summary In recent years there has been increasing interest in research relating to care homes. It is relatively rare that care home residents are given the chance to influence this research; often, family members or care home staff are asked to speak on their behalf. Research can influence residents’ future care, and it is important to find ways of involving residents in research that are meaningful and enjoyable. This research paper discusses a new approach to involving care home residents in research. It begins by recounting how the approach came about, then covers how well it has worked so far, finally reflecting on the benefits and challenges of working in a new way. The researchers originally planned to go into care homes themselves to speak to residents, but with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic this was no longer possible. Instead, Activity Providers already working in care homes were recruited via the National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) to help. They used activities and discussion prompts developed with the research team to speak to residents about the study. The research team hoped to make getting involved in research meaningful and interesting for residents. The team also wanted to make sure that as many people as possible living with conditions like dementia could get involved too. Comments and suggestions from residents were fed back to the research team to help them make decisions about how the research should be done.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Activity provider / Aged / Care home / Career development / Citizen participation / Cognitive ability / COVID-19 / Elder care / Home health care / Knowledge / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Methodology / Nursing homes / Older people / Pandemics / Participatory action research / Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) / Quality of life / Researchers