The Care Companion – Impact of an Interactive, Online Personalised Resource For Enhancing Carer Resilience, Well-Being and Sustainability: A Real World, Mixed Methods Study
Award Number
NIHR200078Programme
Research for Patient BenefitStatus / Stage
CompletedDates
2 October 2020 -3 April 2022
Duration (calculated)
01 years 06 monthsFunder(s)
NIHRFunding Amount
£228,321.00Funder/Grant study page
NIHRContracted Centre
NHS COVENTRY AND WARWICKSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARDContracted Centre Webpage
Principal Investigator
Professor Jeremy DalePI Contact
Jeremy.Dale@warwick.ac.ukPI ORCID
0000-0001-9256-3553WHO Catergories
Economic Impact of DementiaMethodologies and approaches for risk reduction research
Disease Type
Dementia (Unspecified)CPEC Review Info
| Reference ID | 194 |
|---|---|
| Researcher | Reside Team |
| Published | 12/06/2023 |
Data
| Award Number | NIHR200078 |
|---|---|
| Status / Stage | Completed |
| Start Date | 20201002 |
| End Date | 20220403 |
| Duration (calculated) | 01 years 06 months |
| Funder/Grant study page | NIHR |
| Contracted Centre | NHS COVENTRY AND WARWICKSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD |
| Contracted Centre Webpage | |
| Funding Amount | £228,321.00 |
Abstract
How is the Care Companion being used to address the needs of those who are the main carers of older people, and how is this benefiting carers, those who they care for and wider society? Growing numbers of older people are increasingly dependent on informal carers in the face of an over-stretched health and social care system. Sustainable low-cost interventions are needed that support carers to remain resilient and cope effectively with the ever-changing complex needs of those who they care for. The Care Companion is an online intervention, co-developed with carers to sustain effective caring through personalised online access to a broad range of functionality, including local and national resources, a journal and mood monitor. It was recently launched across Warwickshire, and is being promoted via general practice, community health and social care teams, hospital trusts, the voluntary sector and other social care organisations. Additionally, we will determine its cost-effectiveness using information on costs, resource use and relevant outcomes, and will analyse website data to extract usage patterns, and explore how they evolve over time in order to inform improved personalisation of features. Timelines for delivery July 2019–October 2019: All registered users of the Care Companion invited to take part in the research. Baseline questionnaires and interviews completed. October 2019–September 2020: Carer and health/social care provider follow-up questionnaires and interviews. October 2019–December 2020: Data analysis, consensus meetings, dissemination activities Anticipated Impact and Dissemination: We will produce reports, publications and other materials to describe how the Care Companion benefits carers, those who they care for and wider society. Substantial stakeholder and PPI input will be drawn upon to inform the dissemination strategy, and so ensure the findings have maximal impact on policy, commissioning and services.
Aims
The proposed research aims to investigate the adoption and effects of the Care Companion and will: estimate its reach explore its uptake and promotion by health and social care providers and the voluntary sector analyse how engagement with the Care Companion is associated with the carers resilience, wellbeing and characteristics explore its utility in terms of relevance, reach, and perceived impact on the carer/cared-for person and their use of services identify how its functionality is being used, and capture key development requirements to enhance its future value, sustainability and impact. determine costs, benefits and overall cost-effectiveness Methods: The research has a mixed-methods design and draws on the RE-AIM Framework (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance) to assess the impact of the Care Companion and how it translates to a real-world setting. We will use a range of data to address the research objectives and investigate how different levels of usage are associated with resilience, wellbeing and quality of life: routinely collected through user profiles and use of the Care Companion site validated carer-reported outcome measures completed at baseline, 6- and 12 months and interviews with carers interviews with health and social care providers about their experience of the Care Companion and its impact on service usage.