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Enhancing Older People’s Mental Wellbeing Through Research: A Case Study

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Mental Health and Older People

Abstract

This chapter is based on a research project looking at the experiences of older people moving into or between dementia services offered by social care agencies or the NHS. The research was underpinned by a participatory research approach which included employing older people as coresearchers to work alongside academic researchers in different stages of the research process. This chapter shows how involvement in the research project can enhance the mental wellbeing of both older coresearchers and research participants.

We begin with a brief outline of the project itself. The remainder of this chapter illustrates the benefits of participatory research to, firstly, participants and, secondly, coresearchers, presenting the experiences of individuals who were involved in one set of interviews.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    All names are pseudonyms.

References

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Acknowledgements

We are extremely grateful to the older people who participated in this research project as both coresearchers and participants and whose experiences form the backbone of this chapter.

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Correspondence to Denise Tanner PhD, MSocSc, BSc, CQSW .

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Tanner, D., Littlechild, R. (2016). Enhancing Older People’s Mental Wellbeing Through Research: A Case Study. In: Chew-Graham, C., Ray, M. (eds) Mental Health and Older People. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29492-6_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29492-6_29

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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