Co-located nurseries in care homes

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Co-located nurseries in care homes: exploring the impact of intergenerational practices on residents living with dementia

• IRAS ID

  345860

• Contact name

  Chloe Bradwell

• Contact email

  c.bradwell@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Leeds Beckett University

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  n/a, n/a

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 6 months, 2 days

• Research summary

  Activities that bring together older adults in care homes with pre-school children have become more common in the UK. The small amount of research in this area and discussions with care home staff, residents and families suggest these intergenerational activities could have many benefits. Equally, they show that they can have negative effects, especially for people with dementia, and particularly those with advanced dementia who might be left out. More care homes in the UK are being built with children’s nurseries on-site, creating opportunities for contact between children and residents. More research is needed to how this impacts the experiences of people with dementia.
  Aim
  To understand how living in a care home with a nursery nearby affects people with all levels of dementia to share best practices.
  Design and method
  We will explore the experiences of individuals participating in intergenerational activities, what works well and potential improvements, in two care homes with co-located nurseries. This will include people with different degrees of dementia, care home and nursery staff, families, and children. We will do this through:
  -Observing intergenerational practices
  -Interviews with people with dementia (who can communicate verbally), families, nursery/care staff and parents of children
  -Creative methods (collages, drawing and painting) to gather the views of children and residents with more advanced dementia
  -Examining residents’ care plans, activity schedules, and training materials.
  The main outputs will be:
  -Recommendations for best practice in intergenerational care for people living with dementia
  -An exhibition in each care site to share the study findings and where artworks created by residents and children during the study will be collaboratively selected and displayed.
  -The exhibitions will be available online and will invite responses from members of the public.
  -Research articles, webinar, and presentations at conferences and to care home staff

• REC name

  Wales REC 7

• REC reference

  25/WA/0280

• Date of REC Opinion

  16 Oct 2025

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion