Collaboration in care with family carers of patients admitted to the Jamie Larcombe Centre (JLC)

This pre-post intervention study investigated the extent to which family carers were included as partners in care for inpatients of the Jamie Larcombe Centre by comparing the perspectives of clinicians and family carers, informed by the 6 Carer Partnership Standards developed to support the implementation of the ‘Practical Guide for Working with Carers of People with a Mental Illness’. Additionally, this study evaluated whether embedding carer engagement principles and the 6 Carer Partnership Standards contained within the Practical Guide into the JLC setting brought about a perceived change in clinical practice, from the perspective of clinicians and family carers.

The study used a pre-post intervention design, using anonymous online surveys based on the six Partnership Standards, and completed in Survey Monkey. Data was collected via a survey of family carers of inpatients at the JLC from May to July 2018 to establish a baseline and a follow-up survey at two months after implementation of the Guide, from October 2018 to February 2019. Clinical staff at the JLC undertook a self-assessment against the six Partnership Standards from May to July 2018 to provide a baseline position, and then repeated three months after implementation of the Guide, from November 2018 to February 2019.