Occupation

Abstracts Thursday 30th June 2016
Author Biographies
Elizabeth Lee is the Acting Senior Occupational Therapist for
Birmingham City Council Disabled Children and Social Care
Team and Transport Service
Emma Howell is an Occupational Therapist for Birmingham City
Council Disabled Children and Social Care Team
Colin PG Jones is the Children and Young Persons OT Manager
for Birmingham City Council and also an Independent
Occupational Therapist
Session 50.1
Photography as method in care home research
Craig C, Sheffield Hallam University
Globally the population is ageing and the fastest growing
demographic are people who are aged eighty five and over
(WHO, 2011). These indiviuals represent a significant proportion
of the population of older people who live in care homes.
Understanding the life world of older people living in these
environments is important if the occupational needs of these
individuals are to be met. This requires researchers to develop
and adopt research methods that can help overcome some of
the sensory, physical and cognitive challenges that frail older
people may face (Murphy et al 2013).
This paper explores the potential of photography as a method
in care home research. It describes a study undertaken in three
care homes in the north of England. Phase one of the research
utilised ethnography to build understanding of the broader
factors associated with photography in the care homes studied.
In phase two, older people were recruited through purposeful
sampling, given cameras and invited to take photographs of
their day to day experiences of living in the home. These were
analysed using an interpretative phenomenological method.
The method offered a number of important insights into how
older people navigated the multiple transitions that living in a
care home requires as individuals sought to manage changes
in their physical health with the demands of learning how
to live within an unfamiliar environment alongside a group
of individuals (staff and residents) whose membership was
constantly in flux.
The value of photography extended beyond the immediate
aim of being a tool for data collection as individuals expressed
their enjoyment and the value of photography as a meaningful
activity. Given the limited opportunities for care home residents
to participate in occupation (Wenborn et al 2013) photography
seems well suited to occupational therapy research in these
environments.
References
Murphy, J. and Oliver, T.M (2013) ‘The use of Talking Mats to
support people with dementia and their carers to make decisions
together.’ Health and Social Care in the Community, 21 (2)
pp.171–180.
Wenborn, J. Challis, D. Head, J. Miranda-Castillo C., Popham, C,
Thakur, R. Illes, J. Orrell, M (2013) ‘Providing activity for people
with dementia in care homes: a cluster randomised controlled
trial’. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 28 (12)
pp.1296–1304
World Health Organisation (2011) Global Health and Aging.
Geneva. World Health Organisation.
Keywords
Older people, Research, Other
Contact E-mail Addresses
c.craig@shu.ac.uk
Author Biographies
Dr. Claire Craig is reader in creative practice and design in
health and is co-director of an interdisciplinary research centre
lab4living at Sheffield Hallam University which brings together
health-care researchers, practitioners, designers and engineers
to focus on ways of designing products and services to promote
health and wellbeing.
Session 50.2
Exhibition in a box: uncovering occupational identity
through objects
Craig C 1,2 , Gubler U 1 , Sheffield Hallam University 1 , Zhaw
Institute 2
As the number of people aged 65 and over is set to rise to two
billion by 2050 efforts to understand the needs of older people
have become priorities for research and policy (WHO 2011).
However older people have tended to be viewed as passive
recipients rather than as active partners in research and it is less
common to find studies that focus on the broader aspirations of
older people in relation to their lives (Katz 2011).
This paper describes an international, interdisciplinary research
study that explored the experiences of groups of older people
living in the United Kingdom and Switzerland as a way to
understand of how design can support independence and
wellbeing in later life.
Convenience sampling was used to recruit thirty older
community living older people to the study and a critical artefact
methodology (exhibition in a box) was used to invite individuals
to identify and describe their experiences. Through a series
of carefully selected objects older people living in the United
Kingdom and Switzerland were able to identify and describe
their occupational needs, hopes and aspirations.
Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes which
included the changing meaning of the home environment, the
association of objects with identity and the pervasive nature of
technology in the home and the challenges and opportunities
associated with this.
The objects spoke something of the universal nature of the
tools through which we perform meaningful occupations,
offering a point of contact and a way we can gain entry into
understanding the value of these things in people’s lives.The
method was found to be culturally sensitive and was successful
in both scaffolding conversation and also in positioning the older
person as expert and as an active partner in the process.
References
Katz, J. Holland C. Peace S, Taylor E (2011) A better life: what
older people with high support needs value. York. Joseph
Rowntree Foundation.
World Health Organisation (2011) Global health and ageing.
Geneva. World Health Organisation
Keywords
Older people, Research, Interdisciplinary practice
Contact E-mail Addresses
c.craig@shu.ac.uk
Author Biographies
Claire Craig is reader in creative practice and design and codirector
of Lab4Living an interdisciplinary research centre at
Sheffield Hallam University. Her work focuses particularly on
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