Developing an online support platform for unpaid carers

为无薪护理人员开发在线支持平台

• 批准号: ES/W006642/1
• 负责人: Philipp Friemann
• 金额: $ 6.42万
• 依托单位: London School of Economics and Political Science
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FW006642%2F1
• 关键词: Developing; online; support; platform; unpaid

We will develop an online platform that will allow unpaid carers of older adults to join a chat group with peers and a support worker where they will receive guidance and emotional support. They will also have access to information to support them in their role and exercises to help them manage their wellbeing. Whereas peer support groups are usually delivered face-to-face (either in person or via videoconferencing) our solution will be chat-based. This new approach has recently begun to be tested in a range of different mental health settings. It is innovative for two reasons. First, chat-based support is attractive for some carers who feel uncomfortable opening up about personal matters face to face with strangers. Second, it is also cheaper and easier to provide, as it requires less input from trained professionals. For both these reasons it has the potential of increasing the number of people accessing support.The need for this tool and its potential features were identified through a review of existing research and our own experience of working with carers. We will now work closely with end users (carers and care commissioners) to validate our idea and develop more detailed designs. For example, we will explore how chat groups can be designed to facilitate conversation or how often the support worker should check in with the group and what type of support they should offer.In the first phase of work we will conduct several rounds of 1-1 user testing sessions with prototypes to understand carers' support needs and feedback on our idea. We will start with low fidelity prototypes (sketches) followed by mid fidelity clickable prototypes (mock up of screens that users can interact with). We will then build a minimum viable product of our tool and run usability testing sessions with users. At the start of this process we will also conduct a workshop with care commissioners to explore their perceptions. In the second phase of work, we will test our tool in a live pilot study with a few groups of carers. We will measure how participants are feeling about their lives and how often they have been in touch with other services (e.g. the NHS) through a survey at the start and end of the pilot. We will also interview participants about their experience to understand if they found the support helpful and how it could be improved. Throughout both phases of work will have a steering group consisting of staff from carer support providers, carers and care commissioners to discuss emerging research findings and take decisions on the direction of the design.

我们将开发一个在线平台，允许无报酬的老年人护理人员与同龄人和支持人员加入聊天小组，在那里他们将获得指导和情感支持。他们还将获得信息来支持他们的角色，并通过锻炼来帮助他们管理自己的健康。而同伴支持小组通常是面对面的（无论是面对面还是通过视频会议），我们的解决方案将是基于聊天的。这种新方法最近开始在一系列不同的心理健康环境中进行测试。它具有创新性有两个原因。首先，聊天支持对一些与陌生人面对面谈论个人问题感到不舒服的护理人员很有吸引力。其次，它也更便宜，更容易提供，因为它需要较少的训练有素的专业人员的投入。出于这两个原因，它有可能增加获得支持的人数。通过对现有研究的回顾和我们自己与护理人员合作的经验，确定了对该工具的需求及其潜在功能。我们现在将与最终用户（护理人员和护理专员）密切合作，以验证我们的想法并开发更详细的设计。例如，我们将探讨如何设计聊天组来促进对话，或者支持工作人员应该多久检查一次小组，以及他们应该提供什么类型的支持。在第一阶段的工作中，我们将进行几轮1-1用户原型测试，以了解护理人员的支持需求和对我们想法的反馈。我们将从低保真原型（草图）开始，然后是中保真可点击原型（用户可以与之交互的屏幕模型）。然后，我们将构建工具的最小可行产品，并与用户一起运行可用性测试会话。在这一进程的开始，我们还将与护理专员举行研讨会，探讨他们的看法。在第二阶段的工作中，我们将在几组护理人员的现场试点研究中测试我们的工具。我们将通过在试点开始和结束时的调查来衡量参与者对他们的生活的感受以及他们与其他服务（例如NHS）联系的频率。我们还将采访参与者，了解他们的经历，以了解他们是否觉得支持有帮助，以及如何改进。在整个工作的两个阶段，将有一个由护理人员支持提供者、护理人员和护理专员组成的指导小组，讨论新出现的研究成果，并就设计方向作出决定。