Using BERRI methodology to support the psychological needs of older people with dementia

我们的创始人是一位咨询临床心理学家，他在使用数据支持整个生命周期的心理健康方面具有专业知识。我们开发了一个数字工具集（BERRI），可以识别和帮助支持儿童的心理需求，跟踪一段时间的进展，并就如何支持孩子产生个性化的建议。与需要临床医生花时间进行评分和解释的纸质测量相比，这是一个巨大的进步。BERRI已在380家儿童住宅和12个地方当局使用，已为地方当局节省了数百万英镑。一项独立的社会和经济影响分析显示，在我们的服务上每花费1英镑，公共钱包就会节省108英镑。通过问卷调查建立了筛选和跟踪需求的方法，然后生成一份定制报告，为护理人员和专业人员提供建议，我们认识到，我们开发和推出BERRI的过程可以用于支持其他弱势群体的需求，这些群体目前主要由不合格的护理人员提供支持。其中最大的问题是老年痴呆症患者，这对英国的健康和社会保健服务构成了越来越大的挑战。全英国有85万人患有痴呆症，据估计，到2025年，这一数字将超过100万。40多万老年人生活在住宿/护理机构，其中70%的居民患有痴呆症或严重的记忆问题。更多的痴呆症患者留在自己家中或与家人住在一起，接受伴侣、子女或其他家庭成员的居家护理或支持。研究表明，培训护理人员以支持痴呆症患者的个人心理需求，有助于老年人更长时间地保持功能性技能，提高生活质量，延长寿命。因此，我们建议设计和开发一种类似BERRI的产品，以支持那些照顾老年痴呆症患者的人；我们对这群人有专门的知识来开发问卷和改善心理结果。设计基金会拨款将使我们能够研究护理人员的需求，并考虑如何开发和营销数字工具集，以满足这一人群的心理需求。我们会考虑什么样的名称和品牌适合这个市场，什么样的信息可以传达给护理人员和护理提供者组织，以最好地说明价值主张，并鼓励他们使用我们的工具来支持他们所爱的人。我们可以测试营销策略，并计划下一步走向商业化。

Founded by a consultant clinical psychologist with specialist expertise about using data to support mental health across the lifespan, we developed a digital toolset (BERRI) that can identify and help to support children's psychological needs, tracking progress over time and generating individualised advice about how to support that child. This is a giant step forward compared to paper measures that take clinician time to score and interpret. Used in 380 residential children's homes and 12 local authorities, BERRI has already demonstrably saved millions of pounds for local authorities; an independent social and economic impact analysis shows savings of £108 by the public purse for every £1 spent on our services.Having established the methodology of screening and tracking needs via questionnaire, and then generating a custom report to advise caregivers and professionals, we recognised that the process by which we developed and spun out BERRI could be used to support the needs of other vulnerable population groups who are currently supported predominantly by unqualified caregivers. The biggest of these, and a growing challenge to UK health and social care services, is older people with dementia. Across the UK, 850,000 people have dementia, and it is estimated that this figure will exceed a million by 2025\. More than 400,000 older people live in residential/nursing care settings, where 70% of residents have dementia or severe memory problems. Many more people with dementia remain within their own home or live with family, receiving domiciliary care or support from partners, children or other family members. Research has shown training carers to support the individual psychological needs of people with dementia helps older people to retain functional skills for longer, have better quality of life and increases lifespan.We therefore propose to design and develop a product similar to BERRI to support those caring for older people with dementia; a population with which we have specialist expertise developing questionnaires and improving psychological outcomes.The Design Foundations Grant would allow us to research the needs of carers, and consider how we would develop and market a digital toolset to address the psychological needs of that population. We would consider what name and branding would be suitable for this market, what messaging would reach carers and care-provider organisations to best illustrate the value proposition, and encourage them to use our tools to support their loved-one. We could test marketing strategies and plan the next steps towards commercialisation.