Creating Kinder Communities – Supporting People Making the Move to a Retirement Community
Start date
01 August 2021End date
01 August 2022Overview
Moving house is commonly spoken about as one of the most stressful things that people can go through, but there is a lack of guidance about how we can best support older adults moving to retirement communities in the UK.
Retirement housing offers an environment where older people can easily access care, support and socialising opportunities. It is becoming so popular, the sector is predicted to expand by 10-40% over the next five years. Yet moving, and adjusting to life in a retirement community can be difficult for some people, so how can we best support people through this transition?
This ESRC IAA funded project built on previous findings from the Pargiter Trust funded ‘transitions’ project, which explored the experience of moving to and living in a retirement community.
The transitions project highlighted that while some older people can make the adjustment to retirement community living smoothly, others struggle and become isolated from the community they live in.
When people adjust well, they have a sense of belonging to a community, gratitude for safety and security, and an enjoyment of the life afforded to them. Where residents don't adjust as well, they feel unwelcome in the community and suffer issues with other residents, staff or within their own personal life.
Dr Kimberley Smith and Prof Andy King have continued this work with older adults and staff across a range of retirement communities to develop practical solutions and tools that will help to support them in this major life change. They have also developed ways to make communities more supportive and inclusive environments through collaborations with the University of Bristol, ARCO, Pargiter Trust and Whiteley Homes Trust.
Team
Principal Investigator
Dr Kimberley Smith
Senior lecturer in Clinical Health Psychology
Biography
I completed my BSc in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Liverpool (2004). After this I obtained my PhD from Trinity College Dublin in 2010. My PhD was concerned with exploring the link between depression and inflammation by studying the psychological impact of the Hepatitis C treatment Interferon-alpha. After completing my PhD I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatry at McGill University in Canada (2011-2014) where we examined the link between depression and diabetes. I returned to the UK in 2014 to undertake a lectureship at Brunel University London (2014-2016) prior to joining the School of Psychology at the University of Surrey in 2016.
Co-investigator
Professor Andrew King
Head of Sociology, Professor of Sociology
Biography
I am Head of Sociology and Associate Head of the School of Social Sciences here at Surrey. I am Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Ageing and Generations (CRAG), the Centre of Excellence on Ageing (CEA) and I also Co-Chair SGS (the Sex, Gender and Sexualities Research Group at Surrey). I lead the University of Surrey Economic and Social Research Council Impact Acceleration Account.
I have been recognised for my excellence in both research and teaching. In 2018 I received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence and I received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2014. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
I am currently Deputy Editor of the journal, Ageing and Society and a Co-Editor of Sociology, the journal of the British Sociological Association.
During 2023/4 I was a Visiting Professor in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Trinity College Dublin.
Our partners
This project is a partnership between the University of Surrey, The University of Bristol, Whiteley Homes Trust, ARCO and Pargiter Trust
Impact
The team has co-developed a series of tools with residents and staff living across five different retirement communities in the UK to support older adults making the move to a retirement community.
These tools can be accessed independently by older adults and staff through the ARCO website, or integrated into existing support packages offered by retirement communities.
Tools that can be accessed independently by older adults and/or staff include;
- A video to be co-created with residents where existing residents talk through their experience of moving and what helped them.
- Diagrams (e.g., roadmaps) that show the process of moving and the things that residents could think about at each ‘stage’ of their journey – these would be downloaded independently by residents or shared by retirement communities.
- Tools can also be downloaded and used by retirement community operators and used as part of welcome packs.
- Setting up a ‘buddying scheme’ between existing and new residents, is a potential solution we will identify (with help from ARCO), and work alongside communities that provide this scheme currently to produce ‘how-to’ guides for communities.
- Developing ways to create kinder and more supportive communities as part of the ‘creating kinder communities’ initiative, which will be taken forward in collaboration with Dr Paul Willis from the University of Bristol by applying for further grant funding.
Success has come in the form of engagement with housing providers and buy-in for the project outcomes, alongside interest in utilising the co-developed tools to help support their residents.
The team visited villages and spoke about the study and adaptation of the tools for use in their village post-award, and have tracked the uptake of the toolkit through the ARCO website.
This project has strengthened links with a broader range of community organisations, and developed knowledge exchange activities. The team has worked collaboratively with a growing sector (retirement communities in the UK) and established the University of Surrey as an organisation at the forefront of work in this field.
This project has co-created resources that will support older adults living in these kinds of communities, developing societal impact in a meaningful way.