Marking two years since the launch of our ‘Thriving in Residential Care’ Research

“Our vision is to provide warm and friendly care in a homely environment by well-trained and motivated staff and enable residents to live their best lives. The best lives is the bit that we focus on…we know that for a lot of these residents, this is their last chapter. This is it. So, we have to do everything we can to make it the best chapter that they have.” – Lynette, Care Home Manager, ‘Thriving’ research

We’re marking 2 years since we launched our landmark ‘Thriving in Residential Care’ research – one of the largest ever qualitative research studies on older people’s experiences of living in a care home.

About the research

We spoke to 125 people – older people, family members, and care teams – across England, Scotland and Wales. We heard a range of stories about the transition into residential care, the reasons which pre-empted the move, experiences of settling in, and profound accounts of daily life and what matters most to older people.

We found six key ways that older people can thrive in a care home – Thrive Relationally, Actively, Inclusively, Securely, with Dignity and Healthily.

High quality, proactive, relationship-centred care, inclusion in a social environment with meaningful activities and nutritious meals, and fostering a strong sense of safety and security is, in some cases, truly transformative for many older people, and is enabling them to flourish in their final chapter of life.

Since launch

In the two years since the launch of our research, we have continually shared our findings across the UK and internationally.

Some of our activity includes:

• Multiple bespoke workshops (online and in-person) supporting care leaders to embed the research into their practice – contact us if interested.
• Conference presentations in the USA (Global Ageing Conference), across Europe (Belgium, Northern Ireland, and Sweden) and across England.
• Further research articles, focused on The Experiences of Living in Residential Care, and Intimacy, Sexuality and Gender Identity in Care Homes (Thrive Inclusively), currently under review with academic journals.
• A range of articles and webinars for the care sector, including a 6-part series with Care England, and educational lectures for students within City St George’s.
• Two County Councils (in the North and South of England) using the Thriving research to inform their future care provision and support their commissioning processes. Read more about Surrey County Council’s work with Thriving.
• Developed a music tool to support more people to engage with the research (more info to come).
• Received a NIHR SSCR Career Development Award to further develop skills to include people with cognitive and communication differences in research, allowing a greater understanding of how these populations thrive.
• Embedded the themes from the research into our Professional Support and Development Programmes for care leaders.

And crucially, we’ve had care homes contact us to share what a difference the research is making!

Hear how one care home is Thriving Inclusively, with changes to their practice leading to a gentleman to say “I am gay”.

The manager said: “Participation in the ‘Thriving in Residential Care’ project directly influenced our decision to undertake LGBTQ+ training, and implement visible signs of inclusivity. These actions have strengthened our home’s culture, improved staff awareness and confidence, and created a tangible difference in the wellbeing and self expression of our residents.”

Finally, our latest new resource is a series of downloadable posters for care providers. These can be printed and put up on display in care settings, as well as used on a one-to-one basis. We hope that they will spark open conversations about what it means to thrive in a care home, and continue to spread the research to new audiences!

The original Thriving research was funded by Hallmark Foundation and we are grateful for their continued support.