Overview of the project

Who is involved in this research? 

As part of this project there are different groups working in different ways to support the research. 

Project Management Group 

The Project Management Group includes the lead and co-applicants, researchers and Speakup self advocates. This group meets every two months to discuss the progress, findings and the next steps of the research. 

Speakup Project Working Group 

The Speakup Project Working Group is a key part of the co-production approach taken throughout this study. This group is made up of a group of self advocates who have mild to moderate learning disabilities, with or without autism, and who are employed by Speakup Self Advocacy. This group is made up of individuals who have supported this project from its development. The researchers meet with this group every two months. 

This group has supported with many aspects of the project including co-producing the study's logo.

Project Oversight Group

The Project Oversight Group includes representatives from policy organisations, practice organisations and academia. This group will meet three times over the project and provide overarching strategic guidance and independent examination of the study. 

What is involved in the project? 

This project is separated into five different parts called work packages. These work packages will happen one after the other.

Work package one

We have recruited key representatives from commissioners, support planning, service providers, adults with learning disabilities and carers to an Advisory Group. 

The group is made up of experts by experience, including: adults with learning disabilities, carers, social workers, commissioners and service providers. This group meets at key stages of the project to provide expert insight into: refining the scope of the review, developing recruitment processes and interview schedules, planning co-production workshops and refining findings and iterations of the created resources.

This group is part of the co-production within this research and will be facilitated by Clare Tarling. The researchers will  collaborate with this group for shared-decision making and learning throughout the project. 

Work package two

We are conducting a realist review of the published research, policy and grey literature to develop and test theories of change associated with ISFs. This will provide depth to our understanding of current ISFs models, their principles and characteristics and the mechanisms critical to successful delivery of ISFs. 

Work package three

We will undertake realist interviews with key informants and two local authorities which offer ISFs. We will interview adults with learning disabilities who have an ISF, family members, social care providers, commissioning managers and other local authority staff to provide insight into the mechanisms of ISFs and the contexts which mediate these mechanisms. This work package will develop a set of refined explanations about how adult social care systems can be configured to deliver ISFs which appeal to adults with learning disabilities and contribute to improved outcomes in social care. 

Work package four

We will conduct co-production workshops to produce two parallel actionable toolkits: to support systems within social care to develop, deliver and maintain successful ISFs; and to support adults with learning disabilities to decide whether to take up an offer of ISFs. These workshops will be iterative, and the outputs will be cumulative, so we aim to retain the same group of stakeholders throughout the process as far as possible. 

Work package five

We will identify two local authorities who do not currently offer ISFs to take part in a developmental evaluation to explore the relevance, acceptability and utility of the prototype tools and inform further refinement.