As a service which actively promotes evidence-based practice, Ashwell Lodge is proud to support research projects which aim to improve services and the experience of service users. Involvement in cutting-edge research benefits the field of social and also our service users and the wider community, and we have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work in partnership with researchers and staff from Bournemouth University on two recent research projects.
Peter Elimian joined the team earlier this year as a Mental Health Support Worker. The title of his research is ‘Adoption of Digital Health Technology in Supported Living Services – a case study of two services’.
Peter explains that “the purpose of the study is to explore ways of easing the use of digital health technology in supported living services. Similarly, some of the key objectives of this research include; analysing the use of digital health technology in the selected services, reviewing the existing framework to determine barriers and facilitators to the use of digital health in the services, and coming up with a written solution that will ease the use of digital health technology by designing an interactive medication reminder mobile app interface to improve medication management in the selected services.”
Ashwell Lodge was also pleased to be involved in the Bournemouth University Long Arm Mental Health Placement project, conducting research into the use of supported living services in the community as placement opportunities for student nurses. The project leaders explained that they were seeking to expand placements for their pre-registration mental health student nurses: “We are aiming to expand and develop new partnership placements within non-traditional areas to provide students with a unique insight into services within health and social care that support the local community with mental health concerns”.
We felt it very important to give the next cohort of Mental Health Nurses experience in working with our service users, to support their understanding of the patient experience post-discharge, and how providers work with individuals to support their continued recovery in the community.
