Talking medicines: conversations between people with dementia & carers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Supporting medicines optimisation for people living with dementia: exploring communication between informal carers and people with dementia in the context of polypharmacy
IRAS ID
289021
Contact name
Lucie Hogger
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Mary University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
570-600,000 people with dementia (PwD) in the UK live at home and many have support from informal carers, such as a partner, with daily tasks such as taking medicines. Research with carers has shown that managing medicines can be a significant source of conflict and worry. Research conducted in hospitals showed that healthcare workers’ communication about medicines made a difference to whether or not PwD took them. However, we do not know how this happens at home, where the majority of medicines are taken.
In this study I will spend time with PwD and their carers at home, observing how they talk about and manage medicines together. Participants will be recruited from the website ‘Join Dementia Research’ which matches potential participants with researchers.
I will visit 24 – 28 people (12 PwD and 12 - 16 carers) approximately once a month over 10-12 months, observing how they manage medicines and video-recording their interactions when they talk about and take medicines. Visits will be in person or via video call. Recordings of conversations will be made by me, or by trained carer-participants. I will also support all participants to record their feelings and experiences of medicines for two weeks using a combination of spoken, written or photo diaries, then interview them about their diary entries.
I will analyse the recorded conversations to identify communication approaches which best support PwD and their carers to have effective conversations around medicines. I will also combine data collected from diaries and interviews to build rich stories showing the medicines experiences of PwD. Insights from these will help healthcare professionals understand the lives of PwD and support optimal medicines use.
This study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/LO/0041
Date of REC Opinion
2 Feb 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion