Care Confidence in Action
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Supporting self-funders to make confident care decisions: ‘Care Confidence in Action’
IRAS ID
356117
Contact name
Kate Gridley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of York
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Background: Understanding and arranging social care is not easy. Older people who need to fund their own care (self-funders) say they do not always know where to start or what their options are. Some would like help to make decisions and plan their next steps. At the University of York we have developed a website with and for older self-funders which is evidence-based and contains useful information to help people make a plan. The website is called Care Confidence (https://www.careconfidence.org.uk/)
This research: We want to ensure everyone who could benefit from Care Confidence has the opportunity to do so. We have been working with local organisations to co-produce interventions using Care Confidence to support self-funders. In this research we will evaluate the implementation of these interventions using an ‘action research’ approach, meaning we will feed in learning throughout to help optimise approaches.
The evaluation will involve:
• Interviews, focus groups and a survey with front-line staff and managers
• Interviews with self-funders and their carers using Care Confidence
• Analytics from the Care Confidence websiteOptimising implementation: We will hold workshops to feed in learning from the evaluation, optimising intervention design and ongoing implementation
A co-productive approach: Care Confidence was co-designed with older self-funders and the people who support them, and the associated interventions were co-produced by the delivery organisations who will use them. The research is guided by similar principles of collaboration, with a team of experts by experience feeding in at all stages.
Making an impact: The research will produce new knowledge about how best to support older self-funders. We will work with services, networks of professionals and people with lived experience to ensure key messages reach the right people and the research has maximum impact.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/WM/0003
Date of REC Opinion
9 Feb 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion