HMT Partner With University Of Stirling For Dementia Research Project
The Healthcare Management Trust (HMT) has today announced a new partnership with the University of Stirling, embarking on a new dementia research project that will help improve the lives of those living with the condition.
HMT St Hugh’s Hospital is dedicated to improving the lives of those living with dementia, which is why HMT has pledged £299,866 to fund new research project. The new dementia project will develop, test and evaluate an intervention to provide personalised physical activity for those living in dementia care homes. The project will focus on activities that can be incorporated into a person’s daily routine.
HMT St Hugh’s Hospital and the University of Stirling will collaborate with care home staff, so the approach can become embedded into tested care practice settings. The key outcomes are to improve care home residents’ quality of life, to enhance the level of care and boost job satisfaction for care home staff.
John Folliott Vaughan, the Vice Chairman of HMT, recently commented: “We want to enter into research partnerships that result in tangible findings that can be integrated into the practical settings of our care homes. This project with the University of Stirling is an excellent example. We expect it to provide rigorous research evidence for a newly developed approach to providing personalised physical activity for people with dementia living in care homes.
“We will work closely with the University of Stirling, and our care homes will have an active role in informing the development of the approach and will be among the first to benefit from it and therefore improve the care for people with dementia.”
The new approach to physical activity will:
- Be personalised for individual residents and incorporated into their care plan
- Be integrated into care practice within the care home
- Be meaningful for both residents and care staff
- Be sustainable and adaptable to people’s different capacities and needs
- Be included into daily movements and activities
- Offer specific and measurable outcomes
- The dementia project will also include the following research questions:
- What are the current levels and patterns of physical activity and sedentary behaviour of people with dementia in care homes?
- How do care practices in these care homes support or inhibit physical activity of people with dementia?
- What could a personalised approach to physical activity, embedded in care plans, look like?
- What are the barriers and facilitators to implementing such an approach?
- What are the outcomes of implementation for staff and residents with dementia?
Professor Alison Bowes will lead the research from the University of Stirling’s world-renowned Dementia Services Development Centre, which provides training and publications related to best practice and evidence-based care for people with dementia.
Professor Bowes commented: “The University of Stirling is delighted to be working with HMT on this project, for which engagement with the real world of care home provision is essential. HMT is recognised as taking a proactive approach to the provision of healthcare, and this research will directly improve the quality of life for residents.”
Paul Steele, the Chairman of HMT, commented: “Funding research is seen by HMT Trustees as a core part of the charity’s work. These projects form part of a portfolio of research projects designed to improve the quality of life and treatment of people with dementia, and the Trust is proud to support them.”
