Dementia, travel, and tourism: A mixed-methods PhD on the experiences, barriers, and solutions to dementia-friendly tourism and travel and their impact on people’s mental well-being

Background:

Dementia affects 55 million people worldwide, with millions of informal carers providing unpaid care, indicating the challenges of this diagnosis on the person themself and their relatives. Dementia is a neurodegenerative disorder, caused by a variety of diseases and injuries, progressively impacting people’s cognitive abilities, behaviour, and their ability to perform everyday activities (Giebel et al., 2017). As the dementia advances, quality of life deteriorates, meaning accessing social care, social support services and engaging in hobbies in social activities, all of which have been particularly inaccessible during the COVID-19 pandemic (Giebel et al., 2021), are vital to maintaining a good quality of life. Research indicates that leisure time, such as travelling, can improve quality of life and wellbeing of people living with dementia, including the carer[s] (Hansen, 2022; Wen et al., 2022). Yet, accessible tourism has largely focused on ad hoc and individualised approaches to research as well as practices, with a need for a more holistic approach required at a broader destination level (Connell & Page, 2019).

This 3-year PhD aims to explore the lived experiences of travelling with dementia to inform dementia-friendly approaches to destination management and improve the well-being of people with dementia and their unpaid carers. The PhD will address the following objectives:

1. Explore the experiences and main barriers, and facilitators, to tourism access for people with dementia and their unpaid carers

2. Understand the impact of local, regional, national, and international travelling and tourism on the person with dementia’s and carer’s well-being

3. Explore and establish the requirements of a dementia-friendly destination and means of public transport

4. Propose a potential nexus between tourism experiences and dementia interventions

5. Produce information for the tourism industry on how to deliver dementia-friendly experiences

The PhD student has the opportunity to refine the aim and objectives into more specific research topics in light of their interests in consultation with their supervisory team and two public advisers (one unpaid carer, one person living with dementia).

This research seeks to address the aim and objectives through a mixed-methods approach by (1) conducting semi-structured interviews with people with dementia and their unpaid carers as well as transport and travel industry representatives; (2) conducting a national online survey on travel and tourism in dementia; and (3) developing a small number of case vignettes based on the interviews and survey to showcase good practice travel and tourism adaptations to be dementia friendly.

Skills required:

We are seeking a highly motivated student, who also has personal skills that are conducive to accessing and conducting research with patient groups and service providers (with the support of the supervisory team). Applicants must hold a first or upper-second class undergraduate, or a Master’s, degree in a relevant discipline, including psychology, public health, or occupational therapy.

The successful applicant should have a general understanding of quantitative and qualitative methods, and preferably experience of/interest in conducting research in health and social care. An excellent standard of verbal and written English is essential as the successful student will be expected to publish from their PhD studies, contribute to relevant publications from the supervisory team as a co-author, and work towards presenting their findings in relevant fora.

Supervision:

Dr. Marcus Hansen (https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/staff-profiles/faculty-of-business-and-law/liverpool-business-school/marcus-hansen)

Dr Clarissa Giebel from the University of Liverpool (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/population-health/staff/clarissa-giebel/)

Prof. Tony Wall (https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/staff-profiles/faculty-of-business-and-law/liverpool-business-school/tony-wall).

To find out more about studying for a PhD at LJMU then please visit https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-students/research-opportunities

Additional Details:

Studentship to commence before February 2023.

The student will initially formally register for the award within 3 months of enrolment and will be expected to transfer to PhD registration within 12 months (subject to satisfactory progress and approval of the transfer report).

For an informal discussion contact Dr. Marcus Hansen (m.h.hansen@ljmu.ac.uk) or Dr. Clarissa Giebel (Clarissa.giebel@liverpool.ac.uk)

To apply:

Please submit by email your CV and a cover letter explaining your interests and skills relating to this opportunity to Dr Cathy Montgomery, Head of Institute for Health Research, LJMU. c.a.montgomery@ljmu.ac.uk

The closing date for applications is Friday 18th November 2022

We are expecting to hold interviews Friday 2nd December 2022 (via MSTeams)

Funding Notes
• Annual fees: £4650

Evaluating the feasibility of installing Visual Adaptations in the Built Living Environment of older adults to prevent falls (VisABLE)

Background:

In England between 2019-2020, 150,000 falls resulted in hospital admission because of a slip/trip during walking on level surfaces, steps, and stairs. Most falls occurred in people >60 years. Falls in the home can be particularly severe for older people with lower socio-economic status, as they are more likely to have poorer housing conditions and unaddressed fall hazards. This costs NHS England an estimated £435m annually. Therefore, developing effective solutions for preventing falls is critical.

Raised surfaces/stairs in the home that are difficult to see can lead to serious falls, which occur because individuals do not adjust their foot position to avoid tripping/falling. We have developed a novel low-cost visual cue which improves the visibility of home hazards and prompts individuals to raise their foot higher when passing the raised surface edge, thereby reducing the risk of tripping and falls.

The aim of this PhD project is to evaluate the efficacy of visual cues to reduce falls in older people with poorer socio-economic status, as they are more likely to have poorer housing conditions. This mixed-methods feasibility PhD will inform the design and conduct of future trials to prevent falls, by using a combination of novel visual cues and improved lighting to enhance visibility of, and prompt safer stepping strategies over, dangerous home hazards.

Consultations and co-design activities with older adult forums (PPIE) and Liverpool Falls Service will determine how home hazards are identified, patient eligibility criteria, and logistics of implementing visual adaptations in the home. The PhD student will also complete a systematic literature review of existing visual modifications to the home environment and complete NHS ethics approval prior to the implementation of visual modifications.

To determine the feasibility of implementing visual modifications into homes of older adult fallers with poorer socio-economic status, visual adaptations will be implemented into the homes of patients identified by the Fall Service and monitored for their effectiveness. We will measure physical activity levels, conduct weekly phone-interviews, evaluate fear of falling surveys, and collect fall events prospectively using diaries. Interviews with clinicians and healthcare practitioners will determine the practicality of prescribing novel visual adaptations, and findings will be interpreted in consultation with older adult forums and Liverpool Fall Service.

This is an interdisciplinary project, supervised by multidisciplinary researchers, clinicians, and community partners within NIHR ARC NWC member organisations, and external collaborators at Newcastle University.

Skills required:

We are seeking a highly motivated student, who also has personal skills that are conducive to accessing and conducting research with patient groups and service providers (with the support of the supervisory team). Applicants must hold a first or upper-second class undergraduate, or a Master’s, degree in a relevant discipline.

The successful applicant should have a general understanding of quantitative and qualitative methods, and preferably experience of/interest in conducting research in health care. An excellent standard of verbal and written English is essential as the successful student will be expected to publish from their PhD studies, contribute to relevant publications from the supervisory team as a co-author, and work towards presenting their findings in relevant fora.

Supervision:

Dr Rich Foster (LJMU) – https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/staff-profiles/faculty-of-science/sport-and-exercise-sciences/richard-foster

Dr Clarissa Giebel (UoL) – https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/population-health/staff/clarissa-giebel/

Professor Costis Maganaris (LJMU) – https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/staff-profiles/faculty-of-science/sport-and-exercise-sciences/constantinos-maganaris
To find out more about studying for a PhD at LJMU then please visit https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-students/research-opportunities

Additional Details:

Studentship to commence before February 2023.

The student will initially formally register for the award within 3 months of enrolment and will be expected to transfer to PhD registration within 12 months (subject to satisfactory progress and approval of the transfer report).

For an informal discussion contact Dr Rich Foster, R.J.Foster@ljmu.ac.uk

To apply:

Please submit by email your CV and a cover letter explaining your interests and skills relating to this opportunity to Dr Cathy Montgomery, Head of Institute for Health Research, LJMU. c.a.montgomery@ljmu.ac.uk

The closing date for applications is Friday 18th November 2022

We are expecting to hold interviews Friday 2nd December 2022 (via MSTeam)

Funding Notes
• Annual fees: £4650
• Annual stipend: £17668
• Contribution towards running costs: £1,600 per year
Due to funding requirements, the post is available to UK/EU students only or applicants with settled status.
Two of the 15 projects currently advertised will be funded based on the suitability of the applicants to undertake the proposed research

School/Institute Info: Liverpool John Moores University, across all five Faculties, has a wide portfolio of health and health-related research activities. This is supported by an Institute for Health Research https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/ihr. Two Full-time PhD (via MPhil) studentships are available funded by Liverpool John Moores University in collaboration with the Applied Research Collaboration North-West Coast (ARCNWC).

The purpose of the NIHR ARC NWC is to support applied Health Care, Social Care and/or Public Health research relevant to the needs of the diverse communities served by the NIHR ARC and its local health and care system. Further information on the NIHR ARC NWC is available here https://arc-nwc.nihr.ac.uk. All research undertaken by the ARC must demonstrate the potential to reduce health inequalities. The Health Inequalities Assessment Toolkit (HIAT) can be used for this and further information can be found here https://forequity.uk/hiat.