Rehabilitation for Outdoor Activities and Mobility in Care Homes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Rehabilitation for Outdoor Activities and Mobility in Care Homes: The ROAM Study
IRAS ID
168742
Contact name
Pip Logan
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
In care homes for older people, engagement in meaningful activities is recognised as a marker of high-quality, person-centred care. Whilst outdoor activities and mobility are believed to have health-related benefits for residents, UK best practice recommendations are based on expert consensus. There is a lack of robust evaluations in this field and it is not clear what sort of outdoor programme might work, given how varied UK care home environments are in terms of size, registration, ownership, culture, resources and resident characteristics. Whilst 70-80% of residents have some form of cognitive impairment and/or dementia, their health states, abilities and individual needs vary significantly.
This study aims to understand what helps and/or gets in the way of residents using the care home garden/outdoor area, with a view to identifying practices and resources that increase outdoor activities and mobility in this setting.
The study will be conducted in 3 care homes for up to 6 months. Environment and resident descriptive information will be collected using questionnaires. Observations of up to 84 residents and 96 care workers will be conducted using Dementia Care Mapping, a recognised observational tool that seeks to understand the viewpoints of people with dementia. This information will be combined to develop ideas about which residents do and don't get outside, and the potential reasons for either outcome. Following this, a focus group with up to 8 care workers will be carried out in each care home, to test out the students' ideas.
Eligible care homes within Nottinghamshire will be identified using the Care Quality Commission (CQC) database. In addition, care homes on the Enabling Research in Care Homes (EnRICH) network register for the East Midlands will also be approached.
Entry into the study is entirely voluntary and the care (or employment) of participants will not be affected by their decision.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0387
Date of REC Opinion
14 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion