PhD Studentship: Culturally Appropriate Personal Care Assistance for People Living with Dementia in Care Homes (BACKHOUSET_U25FMH)

Primary supervisor - Dr Tamara Backhouse

This is an exciting PhD opportunity to develop a toolkit to guide culturally appropriate personal care assistance for people living with dementia in care homes.

Background

Approximately 400,000 older people in the UK live in care homes, 70% of whom are affected by dementia. People with advanced dementia require considerable assistance with personal care such as washing and dressing. One of the challenges in providing sensitive personal care assistance is to ensure that such care is culturally appropriate for each individual. Culturally appropriate care (also called 'culturally competent care') is care that is sensitive to people's cultural identity or heritage. 

This PhD will focus on establishing an evidence base about how to provide culturally appropriate personal care assistance to people living with dementia in care homes. To achieve this, you will work closely with care home communities and people with a variety of cultural identities.

The aims of the PhD are to:

• Identify cultural factors relating to personal care assistance for people with dementia in care homes in the context of both residents and the workforce population.
• Understand what cultural adaptations (for interactions and the provision of care) are currently used to provide culturally appropriate personal care assistance.
• Establish how culturally appropriate personal care assistance can be delivered.
• Create a toolkit for care homes to facilitate culturally appropriate personal care assistance for people with dementia.

Methodology

The successful candidate will be responsible for formulating the detail of this project. However, it is anticipated that the study will adopt a mixed methods approach to map this research area and explore in-depth how culturally appropriate personal care assistance can be delivered. Methods are likely to include a literature review, a national survey of care staff and care recipients, and an in-depth qualitative study.

Training

This PhD will provide an excellent opportunity to train with an internationally successful dementia care research team while gaining experience in mixed methods research.

Person specification

The successful candidate will have a good knowledge of dementia care, be familiar with care-home settings, and have excellent communication skills. Travel to care-home settings will be required (travel expenses not funded).

Entry requirements

The minimum entry requirement is 2:1. Any social care, health professional, or social science degree for example, occupational therapy, health and social care, psychology, sociology, or social work.

Start date: 1 February 2025

Funding Details

Additional Funding Information

This 3-year PhD studentship is funded by the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of East Anglia. The studentship covers the full cost of UK tuition fees, an annual stipend of £19,237, and £1,000 per annum to support research training.

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