ACE (Advancing the Communication Environment in care homes)
Advancing the Communication Environment in care homes (ACE) arose from the STARs study, and was a series of knowledge exchange workshops between care home staff and the study team.
The workshops had three discussion themes:
1. Care homes as a place to live and work;
2. Activities and opportunities for social engagement;
3. Supporting the social and emotional wellbeing of residents.
Findings from the workshops emphasised the importance of: providing a supportive transition to living in the care home, building meaningful relationships, establishing routines and offering functional tasks. Also identified as priorities were: supporting choice and independence in daily life, discussing goals and planning things to look forward to, facilitating intergenerational engagement and being able to provide a change of scene.
Click below to see a visual representation of the ACE study by our talented collaborator Grace Elizabeth Illustrations: ACE sketchnote
You can see more of Grace’s work here: https://www.graceelizabeth.co.uk/
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SPACE (SuPporting Activity and Conversation in the care home Environment).
Following the success of the Advancing the Communication Environment in a single care home study (ACE), the STARs team are rolling out the programme to several settings nationwide in the SPACE project (SuPporting Activity and Conversation in the care home Environment).
Our primary focus will continue to be supporting the communicative environment in care homes with meaningful activities and interaction strategies, and producing a set of materials to enable this.
Resources, activities and strategies developed and used in the STARs study are currently being trialled by members of our SLTs community in STARs Satellite projects across the UK. These will be featured in the STARs blog over the coming months. If you are interested in getting involved please sign up to our Community of Practice
