At a glance
- What the study gets you
- Health checks and monitoring — no treatment given
- Type of study
- Observational (no treatment given)
- Time in hospital
- In-person visits at study sites — visit count not specified by the sponsor
- Drug or intervention
- Not specified by the sponsor
- How long the study runs
- Study runs about 24 months (dates as stated)
- About the drug or intervention
- Not specified by the sponsor
- Patient visit burden
- Not specified by the sponsor
- Type of study
- Observing health over time
- Ages
- Not specified
- Who
- All
- Number of participants
- 343
- Started
- 2025-05-29
- Last checked
- 2025-06
Plain English Summary
What is this study?
- • Testing a new treatment for carers
- • Clinical study - 343 participants
- • Study Goal: Understand carers' needs when someone with dementia is in a mental health ward and develop strategies to support carers as partners in care
Who can take part?
- • Adults
- • Diagnosed with carers
Where?
- • London - Geller Institute of Aging and Memory, University of West London
This is a simplified summary. Always discuss with your doctor before making any decisions.
About This Trial
Study Goal: Understand carers' needs when someone with dementia is in a mental health ward and develop strategies to support carers as partners in care. Research Questions: * What are mental health wards like in terms of staff, patients, and current carer support? * What do carers experience and need during admission, discharge, and beyond? * How do ward routines and staff practices affect carer involvement? * How can co-design turn research into practical strategies for carer support? * Can these strategies be implemented effectively? Method: The investigators will survey mental health wards nationwide, interview carers from three UK wards, observe ward practices, and talk to staff. They will use this information to create and share practical strategies to improve carer support across the UK.
More detail
Background and rationale Mental health wards (MHW) are a significant site of care for people living with dementia (PLWD), providing care for the most unwell, vulnerable, and high-risk individuals who are detained under the Mental Health Act (1983) for their own safety and the safety of others. The UK has around 100 MHWs (80 NHS, 20 private) for PLWD, but there's a lack of evidence on care quality and experiences. Stays average 100 days, with most PLWD moving to institutional care rather than returning home. Admissions often follow severe psychiatric or behavioural issues, such as self-harm or assaults. This population is at high risk to themselves and others, with high acuity and comorbidity. Admissions are complex, involving frequent unscheduled transfers to general hospitals, which are associated with high rates of falls and hospital-acquired infections. Carer involvement can significantly improve clinical and social outcomes for people in mental health wards by reducing length of stay, promoting earlier discharge, and lowering relapse and readmission rates. Carers provide essential support that staff may not, ensuring person-centred care, advocacy, decision-making support, treatment adherence, and promoting recovery. However, carers often feel marginalized and describe MHWs as a place of 'battle,' experiencing high levels of trauma and distress with unmet emotional, social, and financial needs. Reviews and inquires highlight a culture that views carers as problematic and resource-intensive, leading to their support needs being overlooked. There is an absence of research examining carer perspectives of MHWs and no evidence-based interventions to support carers of PLWD who are admitted within MHWs. In response, this study responds to urgent calls from the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, for partnership working with carers and families utilising co-production to develop effective interventions and training programmes to support carers and the guidance required by services and wards to support implementation. Research question: How can MHWs effectively work in partnership with and support family carers of PLWD? Aim and Objectives This study will provide detailed understandings of carers experiences and involvement when PLWD are detained within a MHW, and staff rationales and responses to carers, throughout an admission. It will deliver new knowledge and evidence-based strategies co-designed to ensure carers are appropriately supported and involved and to improve patient outcomes. Objectives: 1. To deliver a detailed description of staffing structure, patient profiles, and current support for carers and families in MHWs for PLWD. 2. Provide detailed understandings of carers' experiences, perspectives of involvement, and their support needs throughout a PLWD MHW admission, during transition, and following discharge. 3. Understand ward organisational cultures and staff perspectives by examining (a) ward routines and practices that involve or exclude carers (b) staff understandings and recognition of carers needs, and (c) formal frameworks and informal rationales staff draw on to inform involvement or exclusion from decision making, care, and transition to discharge. 4. Translate the findings using co-design into evidence-based strategies to support best practice in the involvement and support of carers. 5. (a) Assess the feasibility of implementing these strategies in practice and (b) gather feedback from people with lived experience Design This mixed methods study uses a convergent parallel mixed methods design integrating a national mapping survey, interviews, ethnography and experience-based co-design and feasibility testing. This approach supports the collection of detailed data from multiple and contextualized perspectives, with the goal to improve healthcare systems. The study uses family systems theory and the Family Adjustment and Adaptation Response Model (FARR) to understand family responses to stress, such as dementia and mental health admissions. It also incorporates anthropology and sociology theories to explore family and kinship in care contexts and how healthcare professionals and MHWs recognize and respond to families. This combined approach aims to understand carers' and families' experiences and how to best support them during MHW admissions.
How this trial compares with your answers
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What we know so far
Still need:
- • Tell us your age for better matching
- • Tell us your sex for better matching
Preliminary match based on your answers. Full eligibility requires on-site assessment including medical history, physical exam, and lab tests. This does not guarantee enrolment.
Eligibility at a Glance
Key info
- Age: Not specified
- Who can join: All genders
What the study is looking for
- ✓Ward managers of mental health wards that provides care to PLWD
- ✓Ward managers from NHS wards that provides care to PLWD
- ✓Ward managers from private providers that provides care to PLWD
- ✓Ward managers that work on organic or mixed wards that provides care to PLWD
Who cannot take part
- ✗Functional older adult mental health wards that do not provide care to PLWD
- ✗Staff members who are not the ward manager
- ✗Longitudinal interviews with current carers
- ✗Inclusion criteria:
- ✗Family member (any relationship) or friend of a PLWD currently receiving care on a mental health ward
See the full criteria
Where Is This Study? (1 UK site)
Geller Institute of Aging and Memory, University of West London
London W5 5SA, United Kingdom
How to Get in Touch
Prof Emma Wolverson, DClinPsy
Sponsor contactCONTACT
