Involving consumers in research

‘Partnering with people with dementia and their care partners, aged care service experts, policymakers and academics:  A co-design process’ examined the role of the support worker from the perspective of the person with dementia and their carer.

Consumers, industry partners and clinicians were embedded throughout the whole research process and a model of successful collaborative research was created based on consumer inclusion.

The research team’s recommendations for the optimal role of support workers included:

Exploring the options for increasing access to dementia support workers within consumer-directed care.

• Trialling and aligning the dementia support worker within primary health networks, particularly in rural and remote areas.
• Addressing issues of accessibility for diverse groups.
• Raising awareness of the “support worker” model and what it offers.
• Ensuring continuous service improvement for existing services and any new services, including consumer feedback.
• Utilising the “key worker framework” as a human resources recruitment, service review and development tool.
• Below is a model from the article (p56) that shows the key features the research team found were key to successfully involving consumers in research.

The image is a model from the article (p56) that shows the key features the research team found were key to successfully involving consumers in research.

(Authors: Dianne P. Goeman, Megan Corlis, Kate Swaffer, Valerie Jenner, Jennifer F. Thompson, Emma Renehan and Susan Koch)