Introduction
The research and practice development group was established to take forward research and practice on meaningful short breaks/respite care.
The UK group also works closely with the BREAK Exchange, an international group of researchers, respite providers, agencies, and individuals who are committed to building a culture of evidence-based respite care.
Aims
The group aims to support building research/practice partnerships nationally and internationally that deliver work that makes a positive difference to the everyday lives of carers and people with complex support needs.
The group also aims to facilitate knowledge exchange between academia, policy and practice in ways that encourage innovations in policy and practice development.
The benefits of this work include co-produced research shall support the effective implementation of policy and practice commitments to carers, including piloting innovative ways to deliver short breaks and commissioning future provision that makes most effective use of resources.
Membership
We welcome opportunities to work with academic and practice-based collaborators from across the UK and internationally. Please contact Diane Seddon at Bangor University.
Steering group
Emma has led work on work on outcomes important to people who use services and unpaid carers for over ten years, both in Scotland and further afield.
With a background in social work, Emma now works between research, policy and practice to ensure that what matters to people stays at the centre of decision making in services.
She was involved in setting up and is on the co-ordinating group of the Personal Outcomes Network, a multi-agency national forum for promoting the voice of people who use services across sectors in health, social care and children and families’ services.
Diane has taken a leading role in developing a successful social care research programme, attracting research grants totalling over £11 million.
She has an established reputation for completing policy relevant research that has impact. This includes reviews of national policy implementation such as the National Carers Strategies in England for the Department of Health, and in Wales for the Welsh Government.
Diane contributes to the development and delivery of the Welsh Government’s Research Infrastructure Support System and leads initiatives to better integrate research, policy and practice.
Rosanna is a Staff Tutor and Associate Lecturer based in The Open University office in Edinburgh, Scotland. Over the past 25 years her experience has been in Social Work and Social Care within the statutory, voluntary and independent sectors. Her substantive early experience was in Children & Families Social Work, later working specifically in fostering and adoption.
Her research interests have developed from her experience of working with service users and carers in a variety of organisations, as well as personal experience of being a family carer. She works with Local Authorities and organisations in the West of Scotland to develop and widen access to the social work programme in Scotland.
Within her current remit with the Open University she supports the Service User and Carer Strategy Group who work with the Professional Programmes, both Nursing and Social Work in Scotland.
Don has been the Chief Executive of Shared Care Scotland since January 2006.
Making effective links between policy, practice and research, in the field of short breaks and respite care, is a key focus of Don’s work at Shared Care Scotland.
Break exchange
International group committed to building culture of evidence based respite.
ISBA
International association of agencies, organisations and agencies involved in the development and delivery of short breaks
- Making personalised short breaks meaningful: a future research agenda to connect academia, policy and practice