Experiences, challenges, and benefits of academics working with care homes for research and practice

Internationally, some of the sickest and most vulnerable citizens in society are residing in care homes for older people. As the population ages, there is an urgent need for academics to work with and for this sector to ensure research and practice development is taken forward to meet changing needs. This papers draws on findings from an exploratory study of the experiences, challenges and benefits of academic facilitators engaging with care homes on research and practice development. In-depth interviews were conducted with facilitators working with care homes in the Netherlands (n=8) and United Kingdom (n=15) to explore the active working mechanisms of their work and reflects on lessons learnt. Emergent key themes included: challenging/invigorating context for partnerships in research; importance of emergent design; opportunities for data generation; working alone/ working together; development of practice based theory. Findings highlight the importance of universities considering new ways of working with care homes.