Co-Authors: Leon Geffen and Gabby Kelly. Until recently, there were relatively few long-term care facilities (LTCFs) in low and middle-income countries. But since the turn of the century, there has been a rapid increase and South Africa contained at least 1,150 LTCFs at the start of the pandemic (Mahomedy, 2021). With colleagues from Mexico and…
Lots of people live in care homes – as many as 360,000 people in 2022. The large majority of people living in care homes move in during later stages of their lives. Approximately 82% of people living in a care home are aged 65+ years old and approximately 10% are aged 85+ years old1. People…
Mealtimes are a fundamental part of life Spend a moment thinking about some of the major events in your life, or those close to you – maybe a wedding, a big birthday, retirement, a baby’s christening. Almost certainly, these events will have been celebrated by eating, or drinking, or probably both. And now imagine if…
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…
Combining roles: being a health & social care professional and a researcher As a registered health and social care professional and postdoctoral researcher I have often combined providing care to care home residents while also conducting research on this care. Much of this research role has involved evaluating the implementation of art-based interventions within care…
In this blog post, we would like to introduce our NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) funded study: CHAPPI. CHAPPI stands for Care Homes and Activity Providers for Public Involvement in Research. In this project, we want to understand how care home Activity Providers (also known as activity organisers, well-being coordinators, recreational officers,…
This blog post has been five years in the making. I first attempted to write about my experiences of supporting my nan, Ann, back in 2018. At the time, she had recently fallen and fractured her hip. And, although she had undergone surgery, she was struggling to regain the ability to walk. Prior to her…
Recent attention has focused on developing social care research and encouraging more social care staff to do research. This has prompted me to set out my journey from care assistant to researcher. I currently work at the University of East Anglia (UEA) as a Research Fellow, but my employment journey started somewhere very different. After…
There are no shortages of challenges in the care home sector just now, with memories of the pandemic impact fresh and often painful, in addition to staffing issues and financial pressures. However, this comes with great opportunities for taking part in care homes research, as there is now more interest in the sector than ever…
Why is dehydration a concern? Low-intake dehydration, which is caused by people not drinking enough, has been linked with lots of health problems, including headaches, falls, dizziness, kidney problems, memory problems, pressure sores and diabetes. Low-intake dehydration increases someone’s risk of going into hospital, and if someone is dehydrated on admission to hospital, they are…
For the first time in three years, the British Society of Gerontology (BSG) Annual Conference was an in-person three-day event, held at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. The conference involved a series of research talks and posters that describe a variety of issues relating to ageing and older people. There was a buzz…
At Nightingale Hammerson, we have been working with multiple researchers over the past few years. Researchers are our ‘critical friends’. They see what we do, how we do it, and ask us why we do what we do. This offers a great opportunity to reflect on our day to day practice and challenge ourselves to…
Welcome! This is our first blog for the British Society of Gerontology (BSG) Care Homes Research Special Interest Group (SIG). So, we will recap who we are and what we do. This group brings together academics, practitioners, and other stakeholders with a common interest in care homes research with the aim of strengthening research, policy,…
