A Collaborative Research Journey with Experts-by-Experience (EbE) on: the Occupational Therapy Contribution to Good Home Environment Design for People with Intellectual Disabilities. A Poster Presentation.

The poster outlines the collaborative research process with Team Springwell on a qualitative study. The study aims to understand how occupational therapists contribute to the design of safe homes for people with intellectual disabilities, to help them live better lives. Team Springwell are a group of Experts-by-Experience (EbE) from Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPfT). They support people with intellectual disabilities to have a voice and have worked on other projects to support intellectually disabled people to have a say in their homes and housing rights. We worked together to ensure that the information collected for this study was relevant and meaningful to people with intellectual disabilities; and that the study focused on their interests and concerns. Springwell were involved from the designing of questions to being part of the interview panel and will further be involved in triangulation of the data through a process of peer debriefing and validation. The poster presents the highlights and challenges of the process and next steps.