The CIRCLE Care Home Guide: A Co-Designed Resource on LGBTQ+ Inclusion for Care Homes

Many older LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination in care home settings, and many care home staff do not have the knowledge required to provide LGBTQ+ inclusive care. Despite the availability of valuable resources on LGBTQ+ inclusion, its widespread use in social care practice in the United Kingdom is lacking. To address this issue, the current study presents a novel resource on LGBTQ+ inclusion co-designed by older LGBTQ+ people, care home staff and researchers, developed to be usable in a care home context.

Five older LGBTQ+ people, four care home staff and three researchers co-designed the novel resource in four online co-design meetings using an adapted experience-based co-design process. Co-design meetings were recorded to collect data on the co-design process. We organised an online focus group to collect data on how the co-design members had experienced the co-design process and their thoughts on the anticipated impact of the novel resource.

The co-design group successfully developed a resource that adds to existing resources by being fully co-designed by older LGBTQ+ people, care home staff and researchers. It prioritises positive actions care staff can take along someone's care journey, available in formats designed to work well in a care home environment. Further, the focus group data highlighted the power of lived experience, from perspectives of both older LGBTQ+ people and care staff. Both perspectives brought unique elements to the co-design sessions and are represented in the final resource.

Through an inclusive co-design process, we developed a new resource for care homes to support LGBTQ+ inclusive practice. Our findings demonstrate the importance of collaboration between older LGBTQ+ people and care home staff to develop resources for inclusive practice. The final version of the resource has been launched and future research will assess its impact in practice.

The resource was fully co-designed by older LGBTQ+ people and care home staff. The wider project was supported by an older LGBTQ+ person as co-applicant.