Blog – Let’s Talk about Impact

What is impact? When we think about impact, we probably think about policy changes, big reports, and national guidance on care delivery, such as in NICE guidance. Whilst that is very important, and can cause change on a larger scale, the research and work we do can generate so much impact we probably aren’t aware of. This is before we even have findings. That doesn’t make it any less valuable though. In fact, I would argue that this lower-level impact on people’s lives, abilities, knowledge and perhaps working practices can be just as meaningful as top-level impact and guidance.

So how might we as researchers be able to generate impact, apart from big policy changes? One way we can increase knowledge, and maybe changes to behaviour, care access, and care delivery, is by involving people living with dementia, their carers, and health and social care professionals in our research as team members. Involving those with personal and professional experiences obviously strengthens the relevance and focus of research, to make sure we address those issues that are the most important. As part of this, we as researchers can learn a lot from people with direct experiences of dementia, be that how they try to navigate the social care system or getting a correct diagnosis, to how care home staff struggles with providing care due to staff pressures, lack of knowledge, and limited to no availability of mental health support.

This learning is reciprocal though. Over the years, I’ve learned how much involving people with personal and professional experiences in research can impact on their lives and working practices. Our public advisers for example, carers and people living with dementia, share what they’ve learned from being involved in research, and from attending the Liverpool Dementia & Ageing Research Forum, with their peers. They go back to their support groups or other social networks and can share what they’ve learned. What’s more though, public advisers frequently tell me how being involved in research makes them feel empowered to speak up for their rights.

We’ve recently completed pilot research on social care needs assessments for people with dementia and their carers. Being involved in the process, and hearing from the participants by coding transcripts themselves, public advisers learned more about this crucial aspect of dementia care. As a result, when I went to a carers centre last week to speak about our work and how they can get involved, one of our long-standing public advisers shared what she had learned from having been involved over the years. (Note, I did not pay her to speak positively about her involvement! She may get lots of end-of-year celebratory Christmas cake though.)

This is impact. We share knowledge without realising it. We don’t need to always wait for new findings, but by doing the actual research, and by hosting events for people to network, knowledge is shared.

Speaking about networks, having done a small evaluation of the Liverpool Dementia & Ageing Research Forum recently, we found that attending events such as seminars, webinars, and networking meetings does facilitate knowledge exchange. Indeed, three people with dementia/carers stated they had accessed care much easier afterwards, by having learned about barriers and facilitators to care. To me, that is the most important impact. So how can we maximise this?

Whilst next steps include a greater evaluation of these types of possible impact, what it does show already is that we should value and be more aware of the impact we as researchers can have – without having to write a paper for an academic audience. It is difficult to record these types of impact, but surely affecting people’s lives this way, without a new medication or care plan, should be important too.

Hopefully this reflection on my experiences of impact to date makes you a little more aware of how we all, often unknowingly, impact people’s lives. Hopefully for the better!

Dr Clarissa Giebel

Author

Dr Clarissa Giebel is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool and NIHR ARC North West Coast. Clarissa has been working in dementia care research for over 10 years focusing her research on helping people with dementia to live at home independently and well for longer, addressing inequalities that people with dementia and carers can face. Outside of her day work, Clarissa has also organised a local dementia network – the Liverpool Dementia & Ageing Research Forum, and has recently started her own podcast called the Ageing Scientist.

Follow @ClarissaGiebel