Developing ‘DrinKit Brasil’: a collaborative UK/Brazil project to support care home residents to drink well and prevent dehydration

An overview of care home provision internationally

Worldwide, the number of care homes providing care for older people is increasing as our populations age, becoming frailer and requiring increased support with activities of daily living. In many countries, care homes are non-existent and so the responsibility falls on families. Where care home systems exist, there are many variations in how they operate, which include differences in funding (public, private for-profit, or non-profit), how they are regulated (locally and/or nationally), type of care they provide, who provides that care, and level of training and education of the caregivers/providers. Care practices vary as much from cultural differences as to anything else, with some anxious to improve care by seeking out relevant research and applying it, whilst others feel so pressured that all they can manage is the fundamentals. Whatever the differences, hydration care to prevent dehydration seems to be an international issue.

UEA Hydrate Group and “The DrinKit”

The DrinKit is a four-part guide for supporting older adults living in care homes to drink well, helping to prevent dehydration. The guide was developed collaboratively by the UEA Hydrate Group and care home staff from eleven care homes in Norfolk and Suffolk, UK. In thinking about how best to help older residents drink well, we adopted a social approach to drinking, so that drinking is an integral part of everyday events and activities. A core part of the DrinKit approach is to enable staff to lead on their own training (supported by evidence-based materials), share experiences and expertise and co-design activities to support drinking. The DrinKit is freely available to download from the UEA website (UEA Hydrate Group – Groups and Centres).

Associação Frente Cuidadosa

The Associação Frente Cuidadosa (https://Cuidadosa.org) is a national care home group in Brazil whose mission is to promote a culture of long term care in the country and the Frente Nacional para o Fortalecimento das ILPI /Care Homes (frente-ILPI.com.br) is a voluntary group created at the beginning of the COVID 19 Pandemic, becoming the largest communication and interaction group for Care Homes in Brazil.

“DrinKit Brasil”

During this year, the UEA Hydrate Group have been working with Associação Frente Cuidadosa to translate some of the DrinKit resources into Brazilian Portuguese. This has also enabled us to establish connections and lay the groundwork for a future of working together and sharing our knowledge, using our different skills, backgrounds, and networks to see how we can help and learn from each other in developing research ideas and transferring ideas and research between our two countries and how to do this effectively when we live other sides of the world!

We have started with hydration care, rather than ‘jumping in at the deep end’, trying to tackle everything at once! Members of the Associação Frente Cuidadosa made contact with the UEA Hydrate Group about the possibility of translating and using the DrinKit in Brazilian care homes. Chris (care home owner and manager in Rio de Janeiro) and Diane (care homes researcher at UEA, UK) visited each other to learn more about each other’s systems and to work out how applicable UK-based research may be for use in Brazil. Whilst there are many commonalities, such as residents’ anxieties about continence and going to the toilet, and so not wanting to drink, we also found some cultural differences, particularly around drinks preferences. Whereas we talk a lot more about tea in the UK, in Brazil they talk more about water and fresh fruit juices.

So, starting from the first visits, we have continued the partnership, boosted by our mutual interest in hydration care. We have been working together to translate and adapt the DrinKit, and undertaken some initial testing in Brazil to make sure that the materials are relevant and useful. Our partnership is continuing as we have an initial exploratory research study planned to understand more about hydration care in Brazil care homes, and how to support implementing ‘DrinKit Brasil’ more widely. And we have lots of ideas about where to go next! If you have a project that you think may support care further afield, do get in touch!