Impact of the Weekly Sparkle on dementia care staff practice
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Weekly Sparkle – the impact of a psychosocial intervention on professional care staff knowledge, attitude, and communication with care home residents with dementia.
IRAS ID
203034
Contact name
Linda Piper
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 1 days
Research summary
People with dementia can have difficulty communicating the parts of their identity that help the care staff who are looking after them to see them as an individual person. Care staff often do not have much training in working with people with dementia, and do not always spend much time talking with the people they care for in a way that acknowledges them as an individual with their own identity. We know that the way that care staff see people with dementia, and the way they talk with them, can affect the quality of care they receive. The Weekly Sparkle is newsletter that can be used by care home staff with residents with dementia. It contains text, pictures, and quizzes designed to encourage reminiscence and cognitive stimulation, and is intended to provide an enjoyable interaction between the care staff member and the resident. This study aims to find out if using the Weekly Sparkle can increase what care staff know about the people they look after, create more positive attitudes towards people with dementia, and improve their communication style. The study will follow between 8 and 12 care staff members using the Weekly Sparkle in care homes for people with dementia. Care staff will complete questionnaires about knowing the person they care for, and their attitudes towards people with dementia. Communication styles will be looked at using video-recordings of care staff members having conversations with the person they care for. These findings will be able to show if the Weekly Sparkle can have an impact on the care staff using it in ways that can benefit the people they care for.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
17/IEC08/0021
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion