Involving Older Adults Actively in Research and Improvement in Care Systems

Abstract:  In the presentation I will talk about the active involvement of older adults in shaping research about aging environments and systems of care.  Older people who have moved into long term care are still not routinely treated as ‘the public’ in public involvement activities to develop research.  Yet this group are ‘the public’, outcomes for whom are the focus of research related to care homes.  I will draw on examples of research on a minimum data set for English care homes and a non-pharmacological intervention for people with dementia with sleep difficulties.  The presentation will consider some of the effects and sequalae of the approach of researchers, older people and activity facilitators working together to bring relevant public involvement into the research, the challenges of honoring values to work well with people, and will locate the work critically in the public involvement literature.  

Speaker: Anne Killett, PhD | Associate Professor, Occupational Therapy, Director of Research in the School of Health Sciences at the University of East Anglia

Dr Anne Killett has been researching social care and older people since 2008.  Coming from a career as an occupational therapist she is passionate about the active involvement influencing research of those most affected by the research. Her latest funding acknowledges this, with an 18 month award from the UK NIHR to study the public involvement role in research of older people living in care homes. Research with care homes and their residents and workforce should model the respectful, inclusive, personalised relationships essential for good care. 

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