JRF Better Life Programme
A directory of resources
2014 saw the completion of JRF’s £1.5 million five-year programme called A Better Life. Its aim was to explore what can help older people with high support needs to improve their quality of life (and what ‘quality of life’ means for them) now and in the future.
From the beginning, JRF and its advisors were clear that they wanted the programme to embrace and develop the social model of disability and focus on hearing the voices of the excluded.
A Better Life identified good practice and challenges within existing models and sought out promising alternative approaches; it has included large scale qualitative research projects, quantitative studies, evidence reviews and reflective pieces written from a range of perspectives.
The Housing LIN considers the outputs from this programme so valuable to housing, health and social care professionals that we have brought the entire body of work together onto one page on the Housing LIN website for ease of access. The Better Life resources are listed with links to their original web location under the following headings:
Better Life project general: older people with high support needs.
- A better Life – Valuing our later years – Blood, I. Dec 2013. Full report and summary
- Better Life. A poem by Andrew Motion commissioned for the Better Life Programme. Dec 2013
- Older people with High Support Needs: How we can empower them to enjoy a better life. A roundup of the evidence. Blood I. October 2010
- Widening Choices for Older people with high support needs. Bowers,H et al. January 2013
- A Better Life: what older people with high support needs value. Full report and summary. Katz, J. et al. November 2011
- A better life: Alternative approaches from a service user perspective. Branfield, F and Beresford, P. October 2010
- A better life: alternative approaches from the perspective of families and carers of older people with high support needs. Burke, S. October 2010
- Innovation and better lives for older people with high support needs: International good practice. Manthorp, C. October 2010
- Demographic issues, projections and trends: older people with high support needs in the UK. Falkingham, J et al. October 2010
Diversity
- Assessing current and future housing and support options for older LGB people. Carr,S & Ross P. January 2013
- Perspectives on ageing in gypsy families. Lane, P et al. January 2012
- Perspectives on ageing with dementia. Weaks, D et al. January 2012
- Perspectives on ageing with a learning disability. Ward, C. January 2012
- Perspectives on ageing: lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Knocker, S. January 2012
- Perspectives on ageing in South Asian communities. Nijjar, M. January 2012
- Equality and Diversity and older people with high support needs. Blood, I and Bamford, S. October 2010
Housing with care
- Older people with high support needs in housing with care; Roundup of HWC research. Garwood, S. May 2013
- Affordability, choices and quality of life in housing with care. Full report and summary. Pannell, J., Blood, I & Copeman, I. December 2012
- Promoting supportive relationships in housing with care. Full report and summary. Croucher, K and Bevan, M. December 2012
- Whose Responsibility? Boundaries of roles and responsibilities in housing with care. Viewpoint, full report and summary. Blood, I., Pannell, J and Copeman, I. (December 2012)
- Findings from Housing with care research; practice examples. Blood, I. , Pannell, J. & Copeman I. December 2012
- A better life for older people with high support needs in housing with care. Garwood, S. October 2010
Housing generally including affordability
- Senior co-housing communities – an alternative approach for the UK. Brenton, M. January 2013
- Preparing to grow old together: an account of early discussions and actions in Brixton Housing Co-op. Forrest, F. January 2013
- Who can afford retirement housing? Aldridge, H., Kenway, P and Pannell, J. New Policy Institute. September 2012 - Full report and summary
- Supported housing for older people in the UK: an evidence review. Full report and summary. Pannell, J and Blood, I. December 2012
- Market assessment of housing options for older people. Panel, J., Aldridge, H and Kenway P. New Policy Institute - Full report and summary.