Setting And Responding to Priorities (SARP)
Setting And Responding to Priorities (SARP) (2021-2024) is a broad research programme involving co-producing research and development priorities for local social care communities and responding to those priorities and working with London Councils. SARP builds on the MACE (Mapping and Community Engagement) study (2019-2021), which mapped strengths and gaps in provision and demand for day services in South London and which built strong networks for the subsequent research programme. SARP and MACE are both part of NIHR ARC South London: Social Care Theme at the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce.
Resource Pack for day centre stakeholders
March 2022 – May 2024
Project lead: Katharine Orellana
With day centres for older people and people with dementia and their broader stakeholders, we have co-produced an online Day Centre Resources Hub that aims to help support day centre sustainability by improving knowledge about them, supporting their operation, and encouraging joint working.
The Hub provides useful information, practical tips, guides, case study examples and templates that can be downloaded and used to help inform work. Topics covered include research, outcomes and impact, marketing, recruitment and local examples. It is not a guide on how to set up and run a day centre nor does it provide contact information about individual day centres.
Resources are primarily for people working in roles that have, or could have, connections with day centres for older people and older people with dementia. This includes day centres themselves and their external stakeholders, for example people whose roles involve funding, planning, evaluating, referring or signposting to day centres, people who have local relationships with them, or who might consider engaging with them in other ways.
The Hub was developed after our survey (see below) identified a need for a body of supportive resources. found that day centres felt unsupported and underprepared for current and future environments, that evidence and information about day centres would be welcomed by day centre providers, professional decision-makers and community groups, and that there is an appetite for joint working.
We co-produced the Hub by identifying resource needs by speaking to 19 people - from day centres and professional stakeholders in a variety of roles. Researchers and a group of 12 day centre providers, other professionals and people interested in day centres then prioritised, identified, assembled, and developed resources that fill some of the gaps they highlighted. These resources were then tested in three day centres, by five people working in social care, two people working in health and a social care researcher. Their feedback was used to refine these resources.
Day Centre Resources Hub flyer for circulation.
We shared reflections on co-designing resources for day centres and their stakeholder at the British Society of Gerontology Annual Conference 2023.
For more information, contact: Katharine.Orellana@kcl.ac.uk
Adult and older people’s day centres: priorities for research, development, and action
Project lead: Katharine Orellana
From May to July 2021, we conducted a survey of day centre stakeholders, that is, adults with current or previous links with or expertise in day centres in any capacity (including 'experts by experience' e.g. of attending one or caring for someone who attends/ed one, volunteering at one) or who work on the topic of day centres.
The survey aimed to gather views about priorities for action, development and research with respect to adult day centres. Findings will support and steer our ARC South London social care work.
The findings have been published.
Please contact Katharine.Orellana@kcl.ac.uk if you have unanswered questions.
London Councils priority work
Home Care in London
At the request of London ADASS (Association of Directors of Adult Social Services) this short project undertook a scoping review of the evidence about the health of home care workers. This was designed as a submission to the Department of Health and Social Care's consultation on a Women's Health Strategy. The work was informed by consultation with London ADASS home care providers' network building on the ARC social care theme's links with London social care providers. Our report is available.
Safeguarding in London
Also through the ARC social care theme's links with London ADASS was a review of Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) that covered mental health social care, including analysis of Reports of Preventable Deaths that are issued by Coroners (focusing on those related to mental health social care provision). This review was in direct response to London ADASS' request for the evidence to be synthesised. This review is published. It was informed by London ADASS safeguarding experts and the views of people with experience of safeguarding services themselves. Findings from this study have been presented to London safeguarding practitioners in local authorities and NHS partners. The report calls upon those working on the new mental health legislation to make sure that safeguarding is included in the changes proposed.
Working with Proud to Care London
Part of the work of the ARC social care theme has been continued engagement with the Proud to Care campaign in London LINK which focuses on recruitment to the social care sector and building up opportunities for career pathways in the sector. Weekly meetings with London ADASS and social care providers are ensuring that the ARC has regular input into discussions and planning. Our report on the links between Further Education colleges in south London and their role as providers of social care training is available.
Involvement, engagement and capacity building work
Our capacity development work has included co-creating community networks which aim to widen involvement in research by under-represented people living in south London, implementing innovative methods, supporting the workforce to work with people living with dementia and supporting social care researchers and ARC South London social care post-docs.
Dementia Community Research Network
We co-lead the DCRN which aims to improve care for all people affected by dementia by giving opportunities for people of all backgrounds and ethnicities to be involved in research. Over 50 people attended our engagement event (funded through BSG Small Event Grant) in May 2024. All attendees said they learnt something and the event was most appreciated for its networking opportunities and learning what dementia services are available in the community. Read more about the DCRN.
Research Engagement Network (REN)
In Phase 1, we engaged with nine community-based organisations (CBOs) in South East London and supported them to recruit their members to take part in research, thus creating a readily available, diverse pool of local research-aware people. CBOs recruited 153 people from Black and South Asian communities and economically disadvantaged groups committed to participate in research projects.
Phase 2 aimed to help strengthen relationships across local research partners, map Integrated Care System (ICS) priorities against the ARC/Clinical Research Network (CRN) local research portfolio and establish models for equitable partnership and collaborative prioritisation of NIHR research. Through co-design the partners developed training to upskill communities in research so that CBOs could make informed and empowered contributions. Cultural Humility training to build capacity, confidence, and readiness of ICB and NIHR colleagues to work in equitable and inclusive ways was also delivered.
Connecting researchers with the sector
Dr Leverton was involved in developing a national homecare portal connecting researchers with homecare organisations that was rolled out as a pilot in three regions in mid 2024.
SC-ImpRes: A practical guide to designing and conducting implementation research in social care
The practical guide, launched in February 2025, aims to support social care researchers to design high-quality implementation research. The project is a collaboration between Social Care and Implementation Science themes, led by Antonina Semkina and Louise Hull. Social care theme experts were part of the advisory panel and provided specialist comments on adaptation of the original tool developed to support healthcare implementation research to a social care context throughout the project. Key changes include:
- clarifying the distinction between research of 'the thing being implemented' and research on its implementation
- indicating flexibility in using implementation theories and research methods for social care implementation research purposes
- using more relevant language
- including social care-related imagery.
The SC-ImpRes practical guide contains eight domains: Characteristics of The Thing Being Implemented; Your implementation study; Stakeholder engagement in implementation research; Implementation theories, models and frameworks; Implementation determinants; Implementation strategies; Outcomes of The Thing Being Implemented; and Implementation outcomes. Each section introduces key terms and concepts relevant to implementation research in social care and includes reflective questions and statements to consider when designing and conducting implementation research.
Methodological work
Identifying false participants
Automatic contact by bots searching for financial incentives mentioned in recruitment notices was becoming increasingly problematic, leading to the development of a Protocol for identifying and managing false participants in online research by Dr Leverton.
Creative methods and sharing expertise
Dr Leverton leads work around creative methods in gathering research data and designing outputs to share knowledge. She specialises in ethnographic and visual methods in health and social care research with the aim of widening research engagement and dissemination of findings beyond academia, and supports researchers to learn how to engage with providers of creative products.
Dr Luijnenburg co-organises an internal Methods Club within the Policy Institute at King’s.
Academic teaching
External education roles include jointly convening a Master’s level qualitative research methods module; ad hoc lecturing about qualitative research methods on Master’s programmes; co-leading the Service Development and Delivery module on the MSc Health and Social Care Policy offered by The Policy Institute to staff of the Department of Health and Social Care; and guest-editing a BMC Geriatrics Collection on 'Living at home with Dementia'.
NIHR Dementia Research Programme (Dem-Comm)
Two of our Postdoctoral Fellows are part of the building research capacity in palliative and social care for people living with dementia through two interventions.
Fellows have also jointly developed Dementia Research Ethics Resources, a comprehensive guide designed to support researchers in crafting responsible and effective dementia research.
Spirituality in residential care for people living with dementia: implementing reflective tools for care workers of people living with dementia (SpiritDem)
Olivia Luijnenburg is developing interventions to support care homes in better meeting residents’ spiritual needs, particularly those living with dementia from minority cultural or faith backgrounds. The research is being informed by perspectives of care home staff, residents living with dementia, and their family and friends to increase understanding of the beliefs and spiritual needs of residents living with dementia. Guidance and policies are being developed to help care home staff support spiritual care. Read more about this work.
Using routine data to understand and improve health and social care for people with dementia near the end of life
Dr Williamson is researching how routinely collected data can support people with dementia at the end of their lives. Meaningful and measurable areas of palliative care routine data have been identified in patient and public involvement workshops and measuring what matters to dying well with dementia has been discussed with commissioners, local authority data analysts as well as patients and members of the public. Analysis of data about the influence of health and social care contacts on hospital admission among people in the last three months of their life is underway. Finally, this work also examines how evidence-informed health and social care policymaking can improve dementia care.
Review of Occupational Health and well-being service provision for the South London Local Authorities’ employees (OHLA)
Antonina Semkina is conducting a study that aims to explore well-being and occupational health service arrangements available to the employees of the LAs in South London. The research is done through document analysis of relevant organisational websites and records and reflects public contributors’ perspective. More information is here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/ohla.
