Involving care home residents in research via Activity Providers
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, and resident engagement managers) and researchers could work with care home residents to enable them to become involved in shaping research. Individuals living in care homes are often ‘seldom heard’ or ‘underserved’ in research, and as CHAPPI researchers and practitioners, it is important to have the voices of people with ‘lived experiences’ involved in research. Public involvement means working with ‘members of the public’ or people living in care homes to shape, design and carry out user-friendly, relevant research.
What is CHAPPI?
CHAPPI is a research and practice partnership that includes University of East Anglia, the National Activity Providers’ Association (NAPA), University of Hertfordshire, Auburn Mere Care Home, London Borough of Barnet, and Skills for Care. Our research will observe what happens during activities, ask people about public involvement – whether it is enjoyable, and has an influence for them. Activity Providers will utilise a variety of engagement methods to support individuals in care homes to learn about the research and share their thoughts.
Where did the idea come from?
The idea for the project was inspired by the feedback of a family carer and a care home manager, in response to restrictions on visiting care homes during Covid-19. When researchers were forced to suspend their public involvement activities because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Activity Providers were able to continue to gather the date in creative and engaging ways.
Activity Providers, who are often a member of staff in care homes, run public involvement activities about research with their residents and feed the resident insights back to the research team to inform research. The activities that are supported by Activity Providers typically involve the use of written words, graphics, videos, and games. In CHAPPI, different activities will be used by Activity Providers to enable care home residents to understand the research and give their views. The activities will be tailored to fit residents’ preferences and abilities. The Activity Providers will discuss a few case studies set by the CHAPPI team during these activities. We want to hear what people think of Activity Provider facilitated resident involvement in research, whether it offers a meaningful and positive engagement for residents.
What have we done so far?
Since the project began in April 2023, the CHAPPI team have visited a community gardening group for people living with dementia and carers (some had relatives in a nearby care home) in Stevenage, and a care home in Hitchin to invite residents to join an Advisory Group held in the care home. We discussed what kinds of activities could be the most relevant to residents for keeping the project relevant to people living in care homes. The care home in Hitchin has not been involved in any research studies prior to CHAPPI; the care home staff were interested in this study because “nobody asks what research we think should happen.” The CHAPPI team will organise Activity Provider facilitated activity sessions from autumn 2023 onwards.
What are we planning to do next?
We invite any care home management who is already a member of, or works with, National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) to give authorisation for their care home to participate in the CHAPPI research. Care home residents taking part in the Activity Provider facilitated activities will not need previous or specialist experience to participate. The CHAPPI researchers will visit each participating care home a few times over the next year to observe the public involvement activities and to ask the residents how they feel about participating. We will not identify any source in any report, therefore any information provided to us will stay private.
At the end of all these activities and conversations with the individuals living in care homes, we will look at all the information we have and create ‘Public Involvement’ resources for guidance (what worked / what did not), to be shared widely for the researchers and the Activity Providers to use in the future.
More information
If your care home is not already a part of the NAPA network and would like to join the network as well as take part in the CHAPPI project, please contact Natalie at [email protected] .
More information on CHAPPI is available at: https://arc-eoe.nihr.ac.uk/research-implementation/research-themes/inclusive-involvement-research/chappi-care-home-activity
