Prioritising Research through Engagement with older Adult Care Homes (PREACH)

Background: 

Care home research has grown in recent decades, and information collected by these studies can be repurposed, offering a valuable, low-risk and cost-effective opportunity for ‘secondary analysis’ – looking at information that is already available in a new way to see if we gain further learning from it. The Virtual International Care Homes Trials Archive (VICHTA) combines information from multiple studies about different care models and health conditions, including data from over 6000 residents.  

Despite this wealth of information, topics researchers want to study may not reflect the priorities of people living in care homes, their families, or staff caring for them. Funders highlight the importance of talking to these people, to make sure we’re using data from studies wisely and focusing research funding on the right things.  We now seek to discover what key stakeholders think is most important to learn from research, by asking residents, their families, care home staff, owners, clinicians, commissioners and research funders. Priority setting presents an opportunity to actively engage with care home networks and generate research ideas grounded in the lived experiences of residents.

Aims and objectives:

The PREACH (Prioritising Research through Engagement in older Adult Care Homes) project aims to identify research priorities by talking with key care home stakeholders.  We will then map these priorities with VICHTA and other data sources and promote research in these areas. 

Methods: 

Step 1: Gathering priorities

We will establish an advisory group that includes key stakeholders and academic experts, who we will consult for ongoing discussions and advice. We will launch and promote our project website (www.carehomepriorities.com) containing explainer videos, and an online survey tailored for all care home stakeholders to reach a broad audience. In parallel, we will talk directly to residents in their homes, using different activities like group discussions and easy-to-understand materials to learn what matter most to them.  We want to make sure their experiences and needs are front and centre in our research.

Step 2: Mapping priorities to available data

We will take all the research ideas we gather and organise them using special software. We will then map the research suggestions with the information we have available, checking VICHTA and other data sources.  This process will give us a clear map of what is seen as important and what data we already have.  If we can use the existing data for some suggested priorities, we will have ready-to-go research plans.  

Policy relevance and dissemination:

By working with people who really know about care homes, we’re making sure our research questions are relevant and useful.  We will end up with a solid list of research priorities based on what these people think is most important.  We will share these priorities through social media, circulation among NIHR Policy Research Units, academic journals, sector magazines, newsletters and webinars to build collaborations.  This approach aims to advance priority-setting methodology by mapping not only against existing evidence, but also against existing data that can be repurposed to address the suggested research questions, ensuring the optimal use of publicly funded research data.