Creative Learning Abilities Partnerships (CLAN)

Background

People with a learning disability and/ or autistic often experience poor health and mental well-being. They are also often not included in research and due to this, services informed by research, do not fit people's needs with scarce resources.

Creative arts approach is an innovative way to engage with the public, making research more accessible and enjoyable. Breaking down barriers between universities/ researchers and the public to include more diverse, previously underserved populations, proving anyone can help designing and carrying out research in partnerships with universities.

We will use the arts (including painting/drawing, music, dance, poetry, writing, drama, growing plants, photography, video and etc.) to explore important questions or barriers to health and social care. Learning continuously what works and what does not whilst creating partnerships. We will use “you said, we did”, finding out how to make changes in services to benefit all partners in health and social care. We have talked to staff at two Mencap community organisations in Lowestoft and Barnet, including a workshop with Barnet Mencap members who helped co-design this project.

The project team will read literature about using creative methods with people with learning disabilities and/ or autism. They will talk about what we find in an accessible way with the Mencap members to learn from each other. 

Project Aims

To make time and give space, for researchers and people with a learning disability and/ or autism and their carers (paid and unpaid) in community organisations to learn together and create sustainable research partnerships. The objectives for this project are:

• To use creative methods to develop ideas with people with a learning disability and/ or autism and their carers (paid and unpaid) about their health and wellbeing to generate research priorities and questions.
• To explore what ‘success’ looks like, in terms of working together, for the mutual benefit of all partners and people involved in this project.
• To evaluate the project from everyone’s perspectives and experiences and to reflect on lessons learnt, what went well and not so well, and how to improve for future partnership working, in this project and beyond.

Project Activity

The project team will read literature about using creative methods with people with learning disabilities and/or autism. They will talk about what they find in an accessible way with the Mencap members, so they can learn together. This will entail:

• 'Getting to know you' sessions where they join in with existing activities. This will be followed by workshops to grow ideas.
• Bringing two groups and others interested in learning disabilities services to share ideas, show and perform creative outputs.
• 'How did it all work' session led by Mencap members and 'what next' sessions to improve future partnership working. This will explore if they want to research with us?
• Start to design future research producing logic models. A logic model is a way of showing what is needed to create a desired outcome. They will be testing the idea of growing things to uncomplicate logic models for this community and hopefully others too.

Anticipated Impact

The project team will share outcomes by co-producing a plan for who could benefit from these new methods. How would they wish to be presented with the ideas? Accessibility will be important throughout.

Who is involved?

• Co-Principle Investigator: Elspeth Mathie, University of Hertfordshire
• Co-Principle Investigator: Amander Wellings, Public Involvement Contributor
• Faib Riley, Public Involvement Contributor
• Rajnish Attavar, Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
• Helena Wythe, University of Hertfordshire
• Silvana Mengoni, University of Hertfordshire
• Jacqueline Guyton, Public Involvement Contributor, Lowestoft and District Mencap
• James Wheatley, Barnet Mencap

Contact

Elspeth Mathie, e.j.mathie@herts.ac.uk