The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has funded £2.19m of new projects into adult social care as part of its commitment to generate evidence to strengthen the way services are delivered for users, carers and the public.
Eight new projects have been funded, ranging from research into parenting support for young fathers in prison to investigating better ways to identify people who may have problems with gambling.
The projects include a £323,000 project led by the University of Hull to investigate preventative interventions in social care, which are intended to give early support to people using services in order to reduce their need to access further services later on.
A £151,000 project led by the University of Manchester meanwhile will focuses on what happens when older adults experience difficulties in managing their money. The researchers are investigating how social care practitioners, older adults, and their families attempt to address these difficulties, and how older adults and families can be supported.
“We’re really encouraged to see the great range of research areas and methodologies funded in this latest Research for Social Care call,” said Mark Harvey and Fran Leddra, joint-chief social workers for adults at the Department of Health and Social Care.
“By supporting more early-career social care researchers, NIHR is working to build more capacity in this area and generate new evidence to bring real benefits to users of social care services, carers and the public,” they added.
The Research for Social Care call is run annually, and the 2020 round is currently open for applications until January.
