Conceptualising loneliness for people with learning disabilities: a co-designed intervention to support social connectedness in social care settings

Start date

2022

End date

2028

Overview

This research, which forms the basis of an NIHR Advanced Fellowship, seeks to find innovative ways for staff working in full time learning disability settings to assist people they support in being more socially connected. 

People with learning disabilities are highly susceptible to loneliness; and people living in full time support settings are vulnerable to loneliness in specific ways. Staff tend to feature prominently in the lives of the people for whom they care but this role remains underused in its potential to facilitate social connectedness for people in receipt of support. The strong causal link between loneliness and poor mental and physical health suggests there is an urgent need on the part of professional services to understand how people with learning disabilities can be better supported to be more socially connected in their lives.

Using findings from creative methods and ethnographic case studies undertaken with people with learning disabilities and in their support settings, this work will co-design an intervention that will rethink the support worker role in terms of its potential as a compassionate and empathic facilitator to social connectedness for people with learning disabilities. 

This research seeks to be for the public benefit by improving understanding of how to achieve more compassionate and empathic care. In turn this could lead to increased quality of life and health for people with learning disabilities, thus in the long run helping to alleviate strain on health and care services.   

This is a 67 month (@ 0.6 FTE) qualitative study consisting of three distinct but interrelated Phases.

 

Phase one: Conceptualising loneliness for people with learning disabilities using evidence review and creative methods

This will first comprise undertaking a scoping review to appraise and map the existing literature on loneliness and social connectedness to inform this project’s work with people with learning disabilities. Second, creative methods activities and a focus group will be undertaken with a small number of people with learning disabilities to build up a holistic picture of how these individuals express their experiences of loneliness and social connectedness.

Phase two: Ethnographic case studies

Here, in-depth ethnographic case studies will be undertaken with four different learning disability services. Building on Phase one material that will capture the views of people with learning disabilities, this Phase will seek to understand the wider context of people’s support to determine what this reveals of the facilitators and barriers to enabling social connectedness among people with learning disabilities in these settings.

Phase three: Co-designing an intervention

The findings from Phase one and Phase two will be used to co-design an intervention with individuals involved in learning disability services to develop guidance and training that will improve the ability of staff to help the people they support become more socially connected.

Aims and objectives

Research question

How do people with learning disabilities experience loneliness and how can understanding this better inform social care practitioners in facilitating meaningful social connections for the people they support?

Research aim

To conceptualise how people with learning disabilities experience loneliness and to co-design an intervention to support people with learning disabilities to become more socially connected in their lives.

Objectives

  1. To scope evidence and build a conceptual picture of loneliness, informed by the views of people with learning disabilities;
  2. To capture lived experiences of learning disability support settings to identify the facilitators and barriers to staff supporting people with learning disabilities to be socially connected;

To co-design an intervention to produce staff guidance and training that will improve the ability of staff to help the people they support become more socially connected.

Funding amount

£456,622.00

Funder

Team

Research themes

Find out more about our research at Surrey:

Contact us

  • Email:  c.banks@surrey.ac.uk