Multi-professional involvement in ACP within nursing homes v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation of multi-professional involvement in the advance care planning (ACP) process within nursing homes
IRAS ID
166529
Contact name
Nicola Andrews
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 4 months, 30 days
Research summary
Nursing homes are key providers of end of life care and advance care planning is an important part of end of life care provision in this setting. There is evidence that successful advance care planning requires multi-professional involvement in the process, but also that there is less multi-professional input into nursing homes when compared to other settings in the UK. This study will examine multi-professional working practices and the impact of these practices on the process of advance care planning in nursing homes, to inform the development of pragmatic approaches to enhance the effectiveness of advance care planning practice in the nursing home setting. The study will use an ethnographic approach, including observation, interviews and document review, to allow first-hand experience and exploration of multi-professional working in two nursing homes. The two nursing homes will be selected so that there is substantial difference in multi-professional involvement in each home, particularly in terms of the numbers of GP practices that work with the home and the availability of dedicated care home support services, so that the impact of different multi-professional input can be explored. The study will take place over a period of six to seven months in each of the homes, with the multi-professional involvement in the advance care planning 'journeys' of between three and five residents being investigated in each home. Interview transcripts and field notes from observations and document review will be analysed using thematic analysis. Data collection and analysis will proceed concurrently, allowing the themes identified through analysis to inform the situations and people observed and the questions asked. The study is being undertaken as a doctoral project for the degree of PhD in Health Sciences.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
15/IEC08/0004
Date of REC Opinion
16 Jan 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion