Ageing successfully
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Ageing successfully
IRAS ID
196003
Contact name
Laura Brown
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 30 days
Research summary
Early definitions of ‘successful ageing’ (i.e. what it means to age well) were developed by academic researchers. However, these definitions did not reflect what older people themselves considered successful ageing to be. This is important, as definitions of successful ageing are often used to inform decisions about policy, services and research priorities that impact on the lives of older people.
More recently, a number of researchers have investigated what older people themselves consider successful ageing to be. However, the majority of this research has been done with healthy older people who live in the community. Very little work has so far been done with residents in care homes, which means that the views of care home residents have not been included in models of successful ageing. The aims of this study are therefore to find out what older people living in care homes consider successful ageing to be, as well as how they think successful ageing can best be supported in care home environments.
To do this, we will recruit approximately 15-30 people aged over 60 years who currently live in a care home. All participants will need to have the capacity to give informed consent, and to be able to converse in the English language. Each participant will be interviewed about their views on what successful ageing is, and how it can be supported in care home environments. We will then analyse all of the interview responses by looking for common themes in what people have said. These results will enable us to get a better understanding about what successful ageing means to older people living in care homes, and how best to support it.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
16/IEC08/0006
Date of REC Opinion
1 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion