Experts explore planning and design principles for quality of life and resilience for older people in long-term residential care

Posted on: 15 May 2024

Researchers from TrinityHaus Research Centre in Trinity’s School of Engineering will soon hold their first stakeholder workshop (Friday 7^th June) as part of their Health Research Board (HRB)-funded research project “Planning and design for quality of life and resilience in residential long-term care settings for older people in Ireland”.

The team, which also includes experts from Age Friendly Ireland, Age Action Ireland, Health Service Executive and The Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (CEUD), aims to provide research findings and recommendations related to the buildings and outdoor spaces (built environment) associated with long-term residential care (LTRC) settings for older people (nursing homes) in Ireland.

This project also involves a number of collaborators, including The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), IADNAM, Nursing Homes Ireland, Care Champions, O'Connell Mahon Architects, Maastricht University and Bill Benbow.

The main outcome will be the development of a set of planning and design guidelines for new settings and the adaptation and retrofit of existing settings, all underpinned by Universal Design principles.

The aims of the workshop are:

• To present and disseminate initial findings on key research activities, as well as gather feedback from stakeholders
• To initiate discussions on the translation of research findings into guidelines
• To present the lived experience (application of daily clock methodology; and outputs from the ‘meaning of home’ workshop series organised and delivered in residential long-term care settings (organised and delivered by current Poetry Ireland Poet in Resident, Anne Tannam)

Understanding the needs and preferences of residents, families, and staff is critical to this research. 

During the workshop, researchers will share the overall engagement strategy implemented, and discuss some of the key outputs framed by expert interviews, online consultations, focus groups, and the adaptation of daily clock exercises to capture people’s perception of the built environment in residential long-term care. 

Stakeholders will have an opportunity to provide feedback on activities, and to experience some of the methods during the workshop.

 For more details and to register, visit the Eventbrite page.

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