“I want to give care home residents a voice in research”
Talented scientists, researchers, doctors, nurses, clinicians and care workers across Wales dedicate their time and effort developing ground-breaking medicines and care for us.
After working in a care home, 24-year-old Brittany Nocivelli felt inspired to advocate for care home residents in research.
Brittany’s PhD project, which she is undertaking at Cardiff University, is titled “Engaging care home residents in research: identification of barriers and facilitators and the development of an intervention to support residents in decision-making and advance planning for research (EN-GAGE Study)”.
The study is about identifying barriers and facilitators to care home resident participation in research, and developing a communication intervention to support decision-making and advance care planning in research.
She is one of three social care PhD students funded by the 2020/21 Health and Care Research Wales Social Care PhD Studentship Scheme.
Understanding where a difference can be made
“I completed an undergraduate and Masters degree in psychology, and knew that I wanted to go into research so a PhD was the next step for me. I’ve always loved education and the academic environment and research felt like a good continuation of that.
“I wanted to get some work experience to narrow down my interests, so worked in older adult mental health in both an inpatient unit and care home settings. Those experiences shone a light on all the things that were missing in older adult social care, and where a difference needed to be made.
“For example, I noticed staff members could have facilitated communication better with residents, if they had the time. Time constraints and workload can mean that opportunities for residents to communicate their wishes are often missed.”
Resources for residents and staff
“I came across this PhD and it seemed a perfect fit for what I felt was missing in care homes. Evidence-based care and practice is really important to me, and this PhD will look into the barriers residents face when getting involved in research.
“We hope to develop interventions to help get them more involved, which would be a good start in improving lots of different areas of social care. This is likely to be a resource for residents, and a training resource for care home staff that will increase their knowledge and awareness about their role in supporting residents to access research opportunities.”
Building a solid evidence base
“This research hasn’t been done before, so we will be giving residents a voice and opportunities to be involved in research that will make a difference to their care. Care home residents tend to have the most complex needs but are least represented in research, which results in a poorer evidence base for their care.
“By improving resident involvement, we hope to assist the advancement of all kinds of social care research relating to older people and care homes. I hope that our communication tool will facilitate resident research participation and consequently represent a typically underrepresented population so that research findings can benefit future person-centred care.”
The Health and Care Research Wales Social Care PhD Studentship Scheme funds talented individuals to undertake research and study leading to a PhD in Wales.
The scheme supports health and social care research by funding high-quality research projects, providing robust evidence which addresses the social care needs of service users, carers and the wider population, and the organisation and delivery of efficient and effective social care services in Wales.
Read more about Health and Care Research Wales funding schemes on our webpage.
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