The Project
Overview
Objectives
Deliverables
Historical Background
The need for better
evidence
The Map
COTSS-H take charge
How it happened
Overview
It has been suggested by Heywood and Awang (2011) that evidence
about the effectiveness of housing interventions for older and
disabled people (including adaptations, modifications, design and
assistive technology) is unsystematic and that there are large gaps
in knowledge. The evidence that does exist is not
sufficiently compelling to attract substantial investment, and its
weakness impedes evidence-based practice. In order to fill
the gaps, a more systematic approach to research in this area is
needed.
COTSS-Housing, in conjunction with UKOTRF and Pressalit Care
plc, is pleased to be able to commission an ambitious and
far-reaching project. The project will have both a national
and international remit to map, organise and link together existing
research and evidence, thereby enabling a cohesive approach in the
planning and coordination of much-needed future research and
evidence generation.
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Objectives
The objectives of this project are to develop an infrastructure
to:
- Bring together relevant research and evidence systematically
and identify gaps in knowledge, for example, the range and
usefulness of outcomes measures and the impact, both personal and
financial, of effective housing solutions.
- Create an accessible and navigable information
resource/database that can enable a wide range of stakeholders to
utilise the information effectively to meet their needs
- Use an analytical approach to identify the range and depth of
existing research in order to map out how future research and
evidence generation can be more efficiently coordinated.
It is envisaged that the project would provide a sustainable
international resource and reference point (beyond the lifespan of
the funding) for, for example, policy makers, practitioners,
service users, educators and researchers across the world who are
interested in improving housing related outcomes.
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Deliverables
- Develop an external network to support the project
objectives
- Develop the information resources/database and evaluate its
impact
- Formulate an agreed dissemination strategy
- Undertake a comprehensive range of dissemination and
promotional activities related to the project
- Final comprehensive report and executive summary
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Founding member Frances Heywood reflects on how the genHOME
project came to be…
Historical background
Like many ambitious projects, the GenHOME idea was conceived at
a kitchen table on the back of some scrap paper. It was the
product of a two day thinking session between Dr Terry Allen of
Bradford University and Frances Heywood from the School for Policy
Studies, University of Bristol. They had met at a Housing Studies
Association event catalysed by Dr Alison Jarvis of the Joseph
Rowntree Foundation, which had already supported much housing based
research into home adaptations.
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The need for better evidence
Frances Heywood had read a lot of research into adaptations and
seen that because there was no consistency of approach there was no
strong or building body of evidence. Terry Allen had
researched the outcomes of some adaptations in Bradford, using two
common medical measures (GHQ12 and HADS) and had been surprised to
find that it was not common practice for housing researchers to use
these tools although they made a simple way of communicating to the
health world the therapeutic benefits of housing interventions.
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The Map
As part of a research bid to improve the evidence base, the two
decided to map out the whole field of research around housing
design and adaptation for disabled people and their families.
This was a map of the research needed- not of research done- and it
resulted in a six-page diagram, which showed how vast the topic is.
It was while this was being constructed that Terry Allen had the
‘eureka’ moment of realising that researchers in this field have no
baseline norms from which to measure changes when housing inputs
are made. Clearly it would be a huge benefit if such norms could be
established.
The objectives of the housing adaptation genome project (product
of the preliminary Genome Project Group, led by Darren Awang,
September 2009, building on the original work of Dr Terry Allen and
Frances Heywood; published with kind permission of Dr Allen).
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COTSS-H takes charge
When the research bid failed, Terry Allen moved in other
directions, but gave his blessing to the use of the thinking and
the map. Frances Heywood approached Darren Awang, Research Officer
of the College of Occupational Therapist Specialist Section –
Housing (COTTS-H). A long and fruitful relationship already existed
here, and with the support of the other COTTS-H officers,
resolutions were passed at two AGMs to pursue the idea of a Housing
Adaptation ‘Genome’ project. The name was coined from the
biological research project that mapped the human genome. It
was intended to convey the idea of a research process which would
need teams of researchers from many different places, each with a
particular area to study but each aware of the wider project and
the need for co-ordination and co-operation. Right from the start,
it was clear the project has to be international in scope and
design.
The commitment of working COTSS-H members was crucial to the
shape of the project. Recommended outcome measures must be usable
in ordinary work. The project must improve access to evidence to
help individual occupational therapists to argue a case. It
must help OTs and others undertaking research to choose approaches
that would help to build a body of evidence.
COTTS-H decided to commit the resources they had reserved for
research and to seek the involvement and commitment of the College
of Occupational Therapists itself. Darren Awang sought and
secured funding to support a PhD student to set the project up;
produced a condensed (and therefore more practical) form of the
6-page diagram and coined the term GenHOME. An article to explain
and publicise the project was published in the Journal of
Occupational Therapy in April 2011.
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How it happened
Working with UK OT Research Foundation (UKOTRF) and Pressalit
Care plc, Darren formed the Steering Group. In August 2011 an
open invitation for applicants for a £30K research grant was
announced and interviews took place in October. Finally, in January
2012 a three year contract was awarded to Maria Parks and York St
John University to manage the project and conduct the associated
research through a PhD.
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