Starting in October 2023, and running until Summer 2024, the TrinityHaus research team have visited several residential long-term care settings as part of our Health Research Board (HRB)-funded project "Planning and design for quality of life and resilience in residential long-term care settings for older people in Ireland”. These visits are an integral part of our research activity, providing insight into lived experience of residents, family members, and staff in relation to the built environment. We have travelled to all four provinces, visiting a mix small, medium, and large public, private, and voluntary settings.

Structured around the key spatial scales, and framed by a person-centred approach, our on-site visits comprised the following research activities:

  • 2 half-day focus groups – one with residents and family members, and one with staff; central to the focus groups was the piloting of the daily clocks exercise to capture peoples’ perception and experience of the built environment of their setting, across a 24-hr period. As a method, it has proven to be both a good entry point into better understanding the needs and preferences of residents, families, and staff, and how the built environment supports health and well-being, quality of life and quality of experience.
  • detailed onsite site analysis supported by the collection of architectural plans, drawings, and photographs; the aim of the site analysis was to examine the physical environment of the setting and identify the key physical features and building related management and operation measures that contribute to a balance between design for quality of life and design for resilience.
  • In collaboration with Age Friendly Ireland & representatives of Older Persons Councils, a walkability audit – assessing footpaths, facilities and services, road user behaviour, crossing the road, safety, and overall look and feel of experience – was conducted for each setting.

It has been a lot of work, and we are currently drawing all our findings together; this will underpin the next phase of our research – the development of a set of Universal Design Guidelines on planning, retrofit and design of residential long-term care settings in Ireland.

The TrinityHaus stakeholder engagement approach is a strength of our research projects. Being able to visit and experience the built environment of RLTC settings has given the research team the opportunity to engage in a more embodied way, providing an additional lens through which to reflect on the role of the built environment in supporting health and well-being, as well as resilience and infection control in RLTC settings in Ireland. Finally, it also offers up ways to better understand and consider the built environment in the context of care, and care-giving, all the while recognizing and acknowledging the dignity of older people living in RLTC settings and supporting them to continue to live meaningful lives.

Over the next few months, the team will be developing the guidelines - a workshop to gather stakeholder feedback on the draft guidelines will take place in early 2025. 

For more information on this project, please see the overall research page.