Thriving in Residential Care: Advancing Inclusive and Ethical Research Practice
Parallel 4
18 November, 2026 12:00 – 1:10 pmCo-producing Activity and Engagement in Care Homes
Bethany Morgan Brett
Research Fellow
My Home Life England, City St George’s University of London
Summary
Our Thriving in Residential Care project explored experiences of residential care from the perspectives of older people and those who care for and support them. Through interviews conducted in sixteen care homes across England, Scotland and Wales with 125 residents, care teams, managers and relatives, the study identified six domains through which people may thrive in residential care: thriving relationally, meaningfully, inclusively, safely, with dignity and healthily These findings challenged dominant deficit-based narratives of care homes and highlighted their potential to support positive experiences of later life.
However, an important limitation of the study was the exclusion of many people living with significant cognitive and communication difficulties. Despite being among the groups most affected by residential care, they remain frequently underrepresented in research because of methodological and ethical challenges associated with participation.
In response, my current NIHR-funded work is developing advanced communication practices and ethical research methodologies designed to support the meaningful inclusion of people with cognitive and communication difficulties, including people living with dementia. This work seeks to extend the Thriving in Residential Care framework by ensuring that the experiences of those whose voices are least often heard are more fully represented.
This presentation will reflect on lessons learned from the original study, examine the ethical and methodological challenges of inclusive residential care research, and discuss emerging approaches for enabling participation among people with cognitive and communication difficulties. It will argue that understanding thriving in residential care requires not only new conceptual frameworks but also research methods capable of capturing the perspectives of those most often excluded.