Current / recently completed research

Developing a resource to support localities address user and family understanding of, and engagement with, reablement: a development and implementation study (The EAGER project)December 2021 - September 2023

This study will develop a resource/toolkit to support reablement services (in partnership with services along the referral pathway) who are seeking to improve engagement with reablement.

Helping older people with mental health needs to engage with social care: Enhancing support worker skills through a prototype learning and development intervention (The HOPES 2 Study)1 March 2021 - 28 February 2022

This study will develop a learning package to enable specialist support workers to better engage older people with mental health needs in social care.

The Home Instead Research ProgrammeJanuary 2021 - December 2023

A three-year programme to stimulate new research and promote evidence-based practice in the field of home care.

Reducing delayed transfers of care (DTOC) for older adults with frailty: a systems-thinking approach to health and social care processes August 2020 - January 2022

This study aims to explore the role of complex social care systems in delayed transfers of care.

The Curiosity PartnershipJune 2020 - May 2025

To develop and evaluate a regional capacity building network: facilitating greater understanding, use and production of research in adult social care.

Curious about CareJuly 2020 - January 2023

The project is developing a situational judgement test to assess the person-centredness of domiciliary care workers.

Helping older people to engage effectively with community social care (The HOPES study)September 2019 - February 2021

This study aims to understand how support workers help older adults with mental health needs to accept and receive social care.

The INSIGHT project: Isolation and loneliness for people with sight loss in care homesAugust 2017 - April 2019

This study will explore current provision for the identification and prevention of loneliness and social isolation in older people with sight loss in care homes.

The influence of social care on delayed transfers of care (DTOC) among older peopleApril 2017 - March 2019

This project will explore the relationship between the discharge approach employed by a particular NHS/local authority site and their delayed transfers of care (DTOC) rates. The project aims to answer two questions: 1) why delays are happening; and 2) how they might be reduced or prevented.

Developing new veteran housing in Kent: An investigation of needs and optionsMarch 2017 - May 2017

This piece of work will investigate the needs and options for the development of new veteran housing in Kent. The aim of the research is to inform development of any future housing for veterans in Kent.

The IRIS project: Improving Rehabilitation for People with Impaired SightSeptember 2015 - May 2018

The project examines the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of two types of community-based vision rehabilitation services funded by LAs in England.

The MoRE project: models of reablement evaluation: a mixed methods evaluation of a complex interventionOctober 2014 - July 2017

This mixed-methods study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different ways of providing reablement in England.

The SHAPE project: mapping and evaluating Specialist Autism Team service modelsSeptember 2014 - March 2019

This project is evaluating Specialist Autism Teams, and investigating their role in supporting autism-specialist practice in mainstream services.

Completed research

Evaluation of Tameside Cultural Arts Pilot ProjectApril 2015 - September 2016

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council’s (TMBC) public health team is currently undertaking a pilot project around the use of cultural arts interventions to manage behaviours that challenge in people with dementia.

The TraCCS project: Transforming community health services for children and young people who are ill: a quasi-experimental evaluationJune 2012 - June 2015

Current policy for children and young people who are ill advocates for care to be provided in the community and close to the patient and family. In response to this, health communities in England are redesigning their services to include comprehensive Children's Community Nursing (CCN) teams that can deliver this type of care. The purpose of this project is to evaluate the impact of introducing CCN teams.

Person- and carer-centred respite care for people with dementia: developing methods of evaluating the effectiveness of different modelsMarch 2006 - September 2008

Little is known about the effectiveness of these different models of respite care. This project will develop tools to assess person- and carer-centredness which will offer a new approach to evaluating respite care.