Connecting People Study

The Connecting People study is developing and piloting an intervention framework for health and social care workers to support people to develop their social networks. We are now inviting health and social care teams in England working with adults with mental health problems, adults with learning disabilities or older adults with functional mental health problems (i.e. not dementia) to pilot the intervention. The Connecting People intervention model is based on co-production principles, that is, workers and the people they work with decide the objectives of their engagement together and work together to achieve them. It particularly focuses on social activities which provide opportunities for the development of social relationships. More information about the model (shown in static form below) can be found on a post on my website. Funded by the NIHR School for Social Care Research, the Connecting People pilot study will evaluate the effectiveness of this approach in improving individuals' well-being and social participation. The intervention model will be piloted in agencies which are able to readily adopt it from summer 2012 onwards. We are currently searching for 12 agencies in England which would be willing to pilot the model and participate in its evaluation. This will require workers to undertake training of about 3 days (with supervisors undertaking an additional 2 days training to ensure the model becomes embedded in routine practice) and the agency adapting to the requirements of the model. Agencies will also need to support recruitment to the Connecting People pilot study to enable us to evaluate the process of its implementation and its effectiveness. We wish to select teams for the pilot whose practice is already similar to the model as we appreciate it may take some quite a lot of time and resources to adapt to this way of working. To help us select agencies for inclusion in the study, we are inviting all those who are interested to complete a brief questionnaire about their work.