Tag: Design

Call for participants for studies in spirituality and design in LTC homes

The Ontario CLRI at Bruyère team has explored different tools to understand what residents perceive a good quality of life to be and how to enhance it even further. This year we continue to advance our understanding through collaborating with university researchers.

Two of these research projects are now recruiting participants:

Spirituality and service design: Supporting spiritual care in Ontario long-term care homes

Spirituality is a key element for many people’s quality of life. It plays a key role in meaning-making, adapting to change, and holds particular importance with aging.

This Carlton University study explores how spiritual care is supported across long-term care homes in Ontario.

Long-term care home administrators are invited to share their knowledge and perspectives as valuable contributors and partners in the development of this research.

Take the 10-15 minute survey: https://carletonu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_81FpJ7BTnpvPo58

Questions, comments? Please email sophienakashima@cmail.carleton.ca for more information. This project was reviewed and cleared by the Carleton University Research Ethics Board-B (Clearance #116644). If you have any ethical concerns with the study, please contact the Carleton University Research Ethics Board at ethics@carleton.ca. During COVID, the Research Ethics Staff are working from home without access to their Carleton phone extensions. Accordingly, until staff return to campus, please contact them by email.

Development and psychometric testing of the 5 Senses screening tool for LTC

A student at the University of Ottawa is looking for feedback on a new tool from residents, families/care partners and LTC team members. Participants are asked to test a new screening tool that examines how the design of their LTC home takes into consideration residents’ senses (hearing, vision, taste, touch, and smell). This is particularly relevant because we know that our senses deteriorate with age. Participants are asked a series of questions to find out how sensitive a home’s environment and processes are to its residents’ senses: how it smells, what the food looks and tastes like, whether residents can easily access outdoors, etc.

Staff: www.surveymonkey.ca/r/staffltc

Resident or care partner: www.surveymonkey.ca/r/caregiverltc

This study has received approval from the University of Ottawa Research Ethics Board.

Industrial Design Grant to Study Long-Term Care Homes

A new study on the design of long-term care homes within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is launching. Chantal Trudel of Carleton University’s School of Industrial Design is working with investigators from the Bruyère Research Institute and the Ontario CLRI at Bruyère, including Amy Hsu, Frank Knoefel, Zsofia Orosz, Heidi Sveistrup, and Bruce Wallace. The study received nearly $40,000 in funding from the Foundation for Health Environments Research in the United States.

“Good design can and should balance infection prevention and control needs with residents’ quality of life and care needs. No resident wants to see their living space transform from the feeling of home to hospital,” wrote Amy Hsu, Bruyère Research Investigator,  in a recent piece on designing the future of long-term care and retirement homes.

This blog post was originally posted in and is shared with permission from Bruyère, one of three host centres of the Ontario CLRI.

Read the news article

Read more on Bruyère’s blog