Suitable living environments and communities

Read how Prof Mark Hawley at the University of Sheffield is connecting with “seldom-heard” communities to ensure his project is representative and inclusive.

When and where someone looks, their level of confidence and visual cues in the environment around them all play a part in navigating stairs safely. Professor Mark Hollands and Dr Neil Thomas, from Liverpool John Moores University, used state-of-the-art sensor and motion capture technology to investigate how we might be able to make staircases safer for older people.

Change is a common and necessary part of care environments – but what sort of culture within care homes leads to them adapting well to change? Dr Al Ross and his team wanted to understand what ‘good care’ looks like, discover which aspects of care homes’ systems and culture support this, and share their findings to improve life for older people in care homes.

Digital innovations and ‘smart’ homes are often seen as a way to provide more efficient care for older people. However, the evidence on whether these innovations actually work, or do what commissioners need them to, is sparse. This research investigates the landscape of technology available to support older people, who is buying it, and what they want from it.

As we get older, our senses change, including our sensitivity to temperature. People living in care homes don’t have control over their environment, and may not be able to determine or communicate if they’re uncomfortably warm or cold. Professor Charmaine Childs used thermal imaging to understand how people’s physical temperatures compared with how they felt, and whether this was affected by dementia.