Advocacy and patient participation in long-stay care settings

This was a case study of the process of setting up and running an advocacy group for a group of older persons in a long-stay care setting in Dublin. All group meetings were observed by researchers and proceedings audio-taped. All group participants were individually interviewed at baseline and 6 months after the establishment of the group. A sample of care and management staff were also interviewed.

The project commenced in September 2006 and was completed in February 2008. The project was funded on a pilot basis by the HSE (Health Services Executive). The PI was Virpi Timonen who worked with researchers Ciara O'Dwyer and Eileen Kelly and Research assistant Ana Diaz. The research resulted in articles in the journal of Social Work in Health Care (2009) and the Journal of Applied Gerontology (2010)