EQUIP-IN: Study Year 1 In Review
The EQUIP-IN study officially turned 1 this month. Discover 5 things that have happened in the first year of our 5-year project:
1. Welcomed new members of the team
EQUIP-IN is a collaboration between the University of York, Newcastle University, Northumbria University and Foundations. Though the co-applicants have been working on the developing the study for a couple of years, it was now time for a few new colleagues to join the team. Why not meet the team?
More recently, Aleisha has joined as our PhD student. Aleisha will be researching the impact of bathing equipment and adaptations on carers of older adults – adding to our understanding of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of equipment and adaptations.
2. Voted for our name and logo
The academic title for the study is: Maximising Effective Social Care Pathways For Assessment And Provision Of Assistive Technologies For Bathing For Older Adults. It’s so long that we knew that one of our first tasks had to be deciding on a short title and acronym. With the previous study named BATH-OUT (which studied the impact of walk-in showers for those with difficulty bathing) we thought it would be appropriate to find an acronym that echoed the focus of this research – bathing equipment and adaptations. EQUIP-IN was therefore born in consultation with our public insight panel. Though the ‘short’ title remains fairly long: Enhancing Quality of Life Through Innovative Social Care Pathways for Independent Bathing.
The next challenge was to create a logo which captured the study in one simple image. After plenty of debate, the consensus was a bath with a bathboard and plenty of bubbles.
3. Championed public and practice involvement
Public and practice involvement (PPI) is central to EQUIP-IN. Our first work package, dedicated to PPI, has woven this into each stage of the research.
Over the past year we have established a public insight panel and a practice insight panel. The panels have advised on the research design. For example, in April, we were joined by both panels for a collaborative workshop. With their help, we drafted the mapping survey to collect information from Principal Occupational Therapists. We wanted to understand the process of providing older adults with bathing equipment or adaptations. With this, the insight panel members helped us to decide the most important information to collect and how to best frame the questions.
4. Started to share our journey
We want to include everyone in our research so we launched this website, a quarterly newsletter and our LinkedIn page all within the first year. Through this we’ve been able to share our story every step of the way. It has been a pleasure to connect with professionals and members of the public interested in our research. So, if you’re interested in social care, make sure that you follow us on LinkedIn for frequent updates on the study, ways to get involved and stories from across the world of research.
5. Launched our mapping survey
We started this year by asking Principal Occupational Therapists across England to complete a survey. As mentioned, this survey maps the process from referral to receiving adaptations and equipment. We wanted to understand traditional and innovative pathways for this process that exist across England and how these differ between local authorities. The information that we’ve collected will contribute to the final recommendations we make to local authorities on how to help older people maintain their bathing independence for as long as possible.
With this we want to thank everyone who has been involved in this first year of the project. Whether you’ve been a participant or are simply following the study from afar, we appreciate your support as we enter the next year of EQUIP-IN.