Feeling at Home phase Checklist and Toolkit Evaluation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Promoting homelike environments for people with intellectual disabilities living in group homes: Using Photovoice visual methods to co-produce and explore the acceptability of a user-generated homeliness checklist and toolkit intervention.
IRAS ID
318109
Contact name
Deborah Chinn
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King’s College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 25 days
Research summary
In an earlier phase of the Feeling at Home project we used a participatory research methodology called ‘photovoice’ to find out from residents with learning disabilities living in group homes what helped them feel at home where they live and what got in the way. We also interviewed residential staff and family members of residents to understand their perspectives on this topic.
Our findings showed that ‘homeliness’ for group home residents is a multi-dimensional concept encompassing an individual’s history with the place they live, the home’s physical décor and layout, the relationships that exist within the home, who controls spaces and activities within the home and how the home relates to the wider network and community.
These findings have been the basis of a co-design phase involving a range of stakeholders including residents with learning disabilities, residential support staff and other health and social care professionals. The outcome of the co-design phase will be a ‘homeliness checklist’ for use primarily by people with learning disabilities themselves to evaluate or review prospective or current dwellings, and a toolkit for residential staff to promote homeliness as a key feature in the home where they work.
In this phase of the project we will evaluate the acceptability and ease of use of the checklist and toolkit. We will do this by asking residents with learning disabilities living in group homes to try out the checklist and then ask follow up questions of house managers and residents about how they got on with the checklist and whether it made sense to them. We will trial the toolkit in a training workshop in a small number of group homes and evaluate staff’s satisfaction with the toolkit and whether it helped them set and achieve goals to improve homeliness of the residence where they work.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/WM/0002
Date of REC Opinion
1 Mar 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion