Research
Updates
- Dr Melanie Stephens has been awarded funding to explore type 2 diabetes self-management approaches within an interprofessional, student-led placement model. Stay tuned for more details!
- Professor Claire Pryor has been awarded funding to host a Global Café event to gather diverse perspectives and experiences on non-medical prescribing in social care. The event is planned for Spring—stay tuned for more details!
- Dr Siobhan Kelly has been awarded funding for a project focused on the creation of digital content to amplify the voices of leaders in Adult Social Care nursing. From January to July 2025, we will develop a series of podcasts and illustrations, which aim to inspire and inform the next generation of nursing leaders and promote best practice in the field. Stay tuned for more details!
- A systematic scoping review titled Enhanced, specialist, or advanced practice roles for registered nurses working in care homes and charitable organisations is currently in progress. You can view the registered protocol.
- A concept analysis of Adult Social Care is also in progress, which aims to clarify its definition and attributes in relation to nursing practice, education, and research. This analysis will help refine the understanding of Adult Social Care in professional and policy contexts, contributing to the development of a clearer framework for nursing roles in the field.
Publications
The research team has published extensively on a wide range of topics related to nursing and social care. Below is a selection of our work:
Care homes
- The impact of interprofessional student training initiatives in older adults’ care home settings: A scoping review
- ‘Not the last resort’: The impact of an interprofessional training care home initiative on students, staff, and residents
- Use of night-time positioning equipment in care home residents with postural asymmetry : a pilot study
- Reflections on an interprofessional student placement initiative in care homes
- A case study of implementing interprofessional education in care home settings
Mental health
- Aesthetic ways of knowing: Exploring mental health nurses’ experiences of delirium superimposed on dementia
- Promoting young people’s mental health: The role of community nurses
- Locating oneself in the past to influence the present: Impacts of neolithic landscapes on mental health and well-being
Dementia
- ‘I want every minute to be worthwhile now’: The views and experiences of people living with dementia and their care partners about returning to in-person group meetings after COVID-19 lockdown restrictions
- Delirium superimposed on dementia
- How education can improve care for residents with dementia
Inclusion health
- How do people who are homeless find out about local health and social care services: A mixed method study
- Use of technology to promote the health and wellbeing of people who are homeless: A systematic review
- Are Gypsy Roma Traveller communities indigenous and would identification as such better address their public health needs?
- Experiences of vulnerability in adult male prisoners: An integrative review
- The lived experience of motherhood after prison: A qualitative systematic review
- Quality of life in adults with Down syndrome: A mixed methods systematic review
- Ensuring digital inclusion
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Nigeria
Education and training
- The use of long-arm (indirect) supervision for nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals in health and social care settings: A systematic literature review
- Evaluation of a blended learning, simulation-based delirium education package for first-year nursing students
- Long arm approaches to practice supervision for non-medical professions: A scoping review
- Getting wound care right: evaluation of a week of intensive teaching on wound care for undergraduate nursing students.
Awards and professional achievements
- Dr Melanie Stephens has recently started her new role as the NIHR Research Delivery Network North West Settings Lead (RSSL) for Residential Care.
- Professor Vanessa Heaslip has been elected as President Elect for Sigma Phi Mu Chapter
- A project led by Dr Melanie Stephens was shortlisted for the Nursing Times Awards 2024 and won the University of Salford’s Best Policy and Practice Collaboration at the Celebration of Innovation Awards 2024.
Associated projects
In addition to the research conducted by our team, we are keen to highlight the innovative and impactful projects led by our colleagues across the university in the field of social care:
You can read about Dr Adam Spacey’s work on advance care planning in care homes below:
- Understanding advance care planning in care homes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: a critical realist review and synthesis
- A critical realist evaluation of advance care planning in care homes