The methodological challenges faced when conducting hydration research in UK care homes.

Background: The evidence base for hydration practice in care homes is underdeveloped. High-quality research is therefore needed to determine what practices support older people with dementia in drinking sufficient fluid. However, methodological developments are needed to be able to do this.

Views and experiences on the use of voice assistants by family and professionals supporting people with cognitive impairments.

The use of voice assistants (e.g., Amazon Alexa, Google Home) is being widely advocated as part of supporting people living with dementia at home.

A study to introduce National Early Warning Scores (NEWS) in care homes: Influence on decision-making and referral processes.

Aim: Early warning scores are commonly used in hospital settings, but little is known about their use in care homes. This study aimed to evaluate the impacts of National Early Warning Scores alongside other measures in this setting.

Design: Convergent parallel design.

Hydration Interventions for older people living in residential and nursing care homes: overview of the literature.

Introduction: Care home populations experiencing high levels of multi-morbidity and dementia require support from caregivers to meet their hydration requirements. This article provides an overview of literature related to hydration interventions and highlights gaps in knowledge.

Sources Of Data: This paper draws on UK-focused literature from Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA), CINAHL, Medline, Proquest Hospital Premium Collection, Cochrane Library and RCN databases on hydration interventions for older people living with multi-morbidity and dementia in care homes.

Housing options for the future: Older people's preferences and views on villages with care and support.

A growing older population worldwide means there is a need to ensure there are sufficient housing options to meet a broad spectrum of need and aspiration. There is little understanding of the relative importance of the "pull factors" that might attract older people to relocate to a new environment. Older people's views of the relative level of attractiveness of potential features of a specialist housing development offering care and support were investigated using Q methodology.

Hydration practices in residential and nursing care homes for older people.

Aim: To scope and explore hydration practices in care homes.

Background: Older residents do not regularly consume adequate fluids to support health. Achieving this is difficult with residents who have coexisting health, sensory and functional problems, as well as challenging hydration habits.

"I'm not sure I'm a nurse": A hermeneutic phenomenological study of nursing home nurses' work identity.

Aims And Objectives: To explore nursing home nurses' experiences and views of work identity.

Background: Nursing home nurses are in a unique position as they work at the interface of health and social care. Little is known about nursing home nurses' perceptions and experiences of working within this context.

Older people's views and experiences of engagement in standardised patient simulation.

Background: The last two decades have witnessed initiatives aimed at improving the care of older people, including educating nurses so that they are equipped with the skills to care for older people with frailty and complex multimorbidities. It has been suggested that involvement of older service users in nurse education can facilitate the development of nurses' caring skills by promoting understanding of the reality of older people's situations. One method of involving older service users is standardised patient simulation (SPS).

Facework and trust in facilitating health-focused housing interventions.

The link between housing and health is of increasing importance in the UK policy and practice context, in which poor housing is often accepted as a social determinant of poor health. Service users' experiences of, and outcomes from, a British information, advice, support and guidance service focused on the relationship between housing problems and health issues were explored. This service facilitates home improvements for privately housed residents with housing issues exacerbating or causing health problems.

Integrated Working for Enhanced Health Care in English Nursing Homes.

Background: The increasingly complex nature of care home residents' health status means that this population requires significant multidisciplinary team input from health services. To address this, a multisector and multiprofessional enhanced healthcare programme was implemented in nursing homes across Gateshead Council in Northern England.

Study Aims: To explore the views and experiences of practitioners, social care officers, and carers involved in the enhanced health care in care home programme, in order to develop understanding of the service delivery model and associated workforce needs for the provision of health care to older residents.

Older UK sheltered housing tenants' perceptions of well-being and their usage of hospital services.

The aim of this study was to examine sheltered housing tenants' views of health and well-being, the strategies they adopted to support their well-being, and their use of health and social care services through a Health Needs Assessment. Sheltered housing in the UK is a form of service-integrated housing for people, predominantly over 60. The study used a parallel, three-strand mixed method approach to encompass the tenants' perceptions of health and well-being (n = 96 participants), analysis of the service's health and well-being database, and analysis of emergency and elective hospital admissions (n = 978 tenant data sets for the period January to December 2012).

Support networks for Chinese older immigrants accessing English health and social care services: the concept of Bridge People.

As Chinese immigrants in the United Kingdom age, they experience an increasing need to access health and care services. It has, however, been reported that older Chinese immigrants have difficulties in accessing these services. This study explored the experiences of this population in using health and care services and the strategies that they adopted to address their difficulties.

'I feel like a salesperson': the effect of multiple-source care funding on the experiences and views of nursing home nurses in England.

The difficulties faced in the recruitment and retention of nursing staff in nursing homes for older people are an international challenge. It is therefore essential that the causes of nurses' reluctance to work in these settings are determined. This paper considers the influence that multiple-source care funding issues have on nursing home nurses' experiences and views regarding the practice and appeal of the role.

Exploring the effect of companion robots on emotional expression in older adults with dementia: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

This pilot study aimed to compare the effect of companion robots (PARO) to participation in an interactive reading group on emotions in people living with moderate to severe dementia in a residential care setting. A randomized crossover design, with PARO and reading control groups, was used. Eighteen residents with mid- to late-stage dementia from one aged care facility in Queensland, Australia, were recruited.

How to use web-based information to support people with dementia.

The growing number of people living with dementia has created a need for all healthcare professionals to enhance their understanding of the condition and of the services that people with dementia and their supporters can be directed to for help. Being able to signpost people to other community-based resources and specialist services is a supportive activity that all nurses can fulfil when providing care that is not necessarily related to dementia. This article provides advice on how to advise patients and their supporters who want to access websites for information relating to dementia.

A framework to support social interaction in care homes.

Engaging in meaningful social interaction is central to quality of life and this does not diminish following the move to a care home. However, social interaction in this setting can be difficult and is not always well supported by the environment or by staff. The aim of the action learning project discussed in this article was to explore the strategies that could be adopted by staff in their daily practice to support positive social interaction in care homes.

Care home residents' experiences of social relationships with staff.

This article presents findings from a cross-study analysis of social engagement between older people and staff in care homes. The studies found that staff and the culture of the care home were influential in determining the quality and type of relationship between residents and staff. Although a number of factors limited the quality of social interactions between these groups, practices existed that overcame barriers to the development of positive social relationships.

Older people actively reconstruct their life in a care home.

The research reported here aimed to present the stories of care home residents through an interpretative study that was informed by a biographical approach and narrative method. Eight older people who lived in four different care homes in England participated in a sequence of up to eight narrative interviews over a six month period. The findings revealed how the older people tried to live as active biographical agents who were instrumental in shaping their own life in a care home.

Older persons' experiences of whole systems: the impact of health and social care organizational structures.

Aims: An in-depth case study of whole systems working.

Background: This paper reports on the second part of a two-part study exploring whole systems working. Part 1 of the study focused on an in-depth review of the literature pertaining to continuity of care and service integration.

Integrated care for older people: methodological issues in conducting a systematic literature review.

Introduction: Systematic reviews are a useful approach for nurses to take in exploring issues important to their practice, and in this article the process of conducting a systematic literature review on integrated care for older people is described. The review was conducted as one strand of a research project aiming to inform the development of locality-based integrated care for older people in Northern Ireland, a development driven by observations of user needs.

Methodology: Systematic literature review methodology is summarized and critiqued.

The impact of research governance in the United Kingdom on research involving a national survey.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact that research governance processes in the National Health Service (NHS) are having on the conduct of research that involves a national survey and to point to ways that existing processes may develop to facilitate such research.

Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes the experiences of a research team of seeking approval in 357 NHS organisations to carry out a national postal survey to investigate specialist services and specialist staffing for older people in England in the wake of recent policy developments. Through reflection on this experience, the team propose approaches for the development of existing research governance processes.

Specialist nurses for older people: implications from UK development sites.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study to explore the development of specialist staffing for older people in six case study sites in the United Kingdom.

Background: In the United Kingdom there has been some concern about the health care available to older people, leading to the development of a National Service Framework. A key theme of this framework is the development of specialist staff skilled in providing services tailored to the needs of older people.

The impact of sensory impairment on social interaction between residents in care homes.

Aim.  The aim was to draw on older people's narratives to illuminate the experience of living in a care home and the impact that vision and hearing impairments have on the individual's ability to engage in social interactions with other residents. Methods.