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Biography
Janet Darby qualified as an occupational therapist in 1995 at the University of Derby. She has worked as an occupational therapist since this date predominately in the field of older people, both in the physical and mental health care setting. She taught on the undergraduate occupational therapy programme at the University of Derby from 2003 to 2005, and completed an MSc in Allied Health at the University of Derby in 2002. She is currently completing a Professional Doctorate at the University of Salford. She is a member of the College of Occupational Therapists and a member of the older persons specialist section. She has a particular interest in the study of older people.
Expertise Summary
Janet Darby is a qualified occupational therapist with 15 years experience working with older people in both the physical and mental health care setting, both in the hospital and in the community. She qualified in 1995 and has worked in a variety of settings, including the hospital, day centre, and in the community. She has also worked as both a team leader (older persons mental health) and as an Advanced Practitioner (acute older persons mental health).
Research Summary
Janet Darby's current areas of research interest span across different groups in Rehabilitation & Ageing. She is involved with recruiting for a number of studies and, as a qualified occupational… read more
Current Research
Janet Darby's current areas of research interest span across different groups in Rehabilitation & Ageing. She is involved with recruiting for a number of studies and, as a qualified occupational therapist, also provides occupational therapy intervention. She has recently completed data collection and analysis on the following research study:
Falls In Care Homes (FINCH) study (including the earlier FICH feasibility study)
- Recruited care home residents for this randomised controlled trial
- The study investigated a falls prevention intervention in UK care homes
- Care homes in the intervention group received a training session around a falls prevention tool and support from a NHS clinical falls specialist
She completed a Process Evaluation with those delivering the training (therapists), those receiving the training and using the falls prevention tool (care home staff), and the recepients of the tool (care home residents). The Process Evaluation aimed to explore perspectives on the following:
- The falls prevention training received
- The falls prevention tool (GtACH) introduced as part of the training
- Practicalities of implementing the training and tool into daily practice
- The data was analyzed using Framework Analysis
Acute Medicine Interface Geriatrician Outcome Study
- Recruited patients aged over seventy years from the Acute Medical Unit at the Queen's Medical Centre
- This randomised controlled trial investigated the effectiveness of an interface geriatrician service for frail older people
- Looked at those identified as at high risk of readmission, functional decline or death
She is also completed a Qualitative Study with intervention participants from the Acute Medicine Interface Geriatrician Outcome Study.
This study aimed to explore patient and carer perspectives on:
- Care and treatment received whilst on the Acute Medical Unit
- The discharge process
- How patients managed with their activities since returning home
- 18 patients and 6 carers were interviewed following discharge and the data was analyzed using thematic analysis.
The findings were presented at the National College of Occupational Therapists Conference in June 2013.
Past Research
Janet previously undertook a qualitative study to explore the patient experience of an integrated service (consisting of a paramedic and healthcare practitioner) for people that had fallen in Nottingham.
- Indepth interviews were conducted with patients who had used the service and the data analysed using Thematic Analysis
Janet has also completed a Thematic Analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with healthcare practitioners who worked for a memory clinic and a falls prevention service. The findings were part of a larger study aimed at developing a falls intervention for people with dementia.
Janet previously took part in the the LPZ-1 feasibility study.
- A study designed to test whether it is possible to implement a benchmarking measure (LPZ-1) of care problems in UK care homes
- Study conducted in two East Midlands counties
Janet undertook focus groups and interviews with care home staff to identify facilitators and challenges to implementation, and analysed the data using Framework Analysis.
Janet previously recruited participants on the Getting out of the House study. This study investigated the effectiveness of an outdoor mobility programme provided by occupational therapists for stroke survivors.
She has also completed a study to investigate the effectiveness of recruitment strategies in multi-centre randomised controlled trials. This revealed that the success of recruitment strategies varied across different geographical sites and a wide range of recruitment strategies are therefore recommended in multi-centre trials. This study was presented as a poster at the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics in Bologna, Italy in April 2011.