The Caru Programme is a joint initiative of Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) in partnership with All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC) and the Health Services Executive (HSE). Caru is a continuous learning programme that aims to support and empower nursing home providers and staff in the delivery of palliative, end of life, and bereavement care to residents. The overall aim of the Caru Programme is to support enhanced quality of life and a good death for residents, while easing the bereavement process for families and staff.
UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems (SNMHS) are undertaking a concurrent independent evaluation of the programme over a five year time frame. The overall aims of the evaluation are to:
Evaluate the extent to which the Caru Programme supports the enhancement of compassionate, person centred, palliative, end of life and bereavement care to residents in nursing homes by increasing staff awareness and confidence in delivering end of life care that is appropriate to residents needs and wishes.
Explore the implementation of the Caru programme from the perspective of nursing home staff and Caru facilitators to identify enablers and barriers and intervention mechanism of action.
The evaluation employs a multiple methods design. Forty-six nursing homes were recruited involving quantitative surveys of staff and families of residents who have died in previous 12 months, at three time points ( baseline (already completed), midterm, programme end). The HRB Summer scholarships will focus on qualitative on-line focus group interviews with stakeholders (starting June 2025) including qualitative data analysis using descriptive thematic analysis and integration of findings with survey data.
The evaluation will inform implementation optimisation of the Care programme and thus improve staff palliative care competencies and care experiences for residents and families, findings will also inform curriculum development.