Research Design Service East Midlands Public Involvement Fund

This RDSEM NIHR funded project was designed to fund meetings with patient and participant involvement (PPI) representative to develop the methodology for a larger NIHR research for patient benefit (RfPB) project to determine the feasibility and prospective associations of cognitive and physical fall risk characteristics with fall incidence in adult care home residents.

The project funded meetings with care home residents to develop the methods to be used in a larger funding application for a project to determine whether we could predict who would fall using new methods to measure mental and physical risk factors in residents measured within the care home.

Feedback from these meetings helped shape the project with changes included to improve the testing and dissemination strategies. Specifically, PPI representatives:
1. Understood and validated the aims and need for the research
2. Felt comfortable that the testing protocols would be accepted by residents
3. Were confident that care homes would welcome and engage with the project
4. Suggested care home staff were present during testing to reassure residents
5. Thought that testing should take place in a private area to maintain dignity
6. Suggested that residents’ families (where appropriate) were informed
7. Thought including seminars with local care homes could be included to disseminate the findings