Barriers and facilitators to deprescribing for older people living in care homes – PhD study

Description

Aims

To investigate the barriers and facilitators to reducing inappropriate prescribing for older people living in care homes and to develop a complex intervention to facilitate deprescribing.

Method

Mixed methods study using theoretically-framed (using the Theoretical Domains Framework) qualitative interviews with stakeholders to determine the barriers and facilitators to deprescribing. Data from interviews will then be used to inform a complex intervention to reduce inappropriate prescribing in this context.

Background

There has been increased interest internationally in reducing polypharmacy in older people to avoid negative outcomes such as adverse drug events (e.g. falls, stroke, cognitive decline), hospital admissions and death, with the aim of improving quality of life. The evidence shows that unnecessary medicines are rarely stopped in the care home population and there are many potential barriers associated with this; however, there is a paucity of research identifying and describing these for care home residents.

This PhD project is investigating the barriers and facilitators to deprescribing for older people living in care homes to inform the development of a novel, patient-centred intervention. Exploration of the barriers and enablers to deprescribing in practice will facilitate the identification of the key determinants of this behaviour; this is a crucial stage of developing a novel complex intervention to improve deprescribing practices.

People

Emma Bolton, David Alldred, Claire Easthall, Karen Spilsbury

Funding body: School of Healthcare

Contact: Emma Bolton