Research Introduction

Introduction To Research At Praxis Care

Praxis Care has a history of research dating back to our inception in 1980 and from that point on focused on how to equip people with mental ill health emotionally, socially and psychologically to live in the community and reduce their need for hospital admission.

As Praxis has introduced new models of accommodation, care practice and support, we have subjected these interventions to research scrutiny, in order to understand their impact on those who use services and their quality of life. The cumulative list of work is reflected in our Research Bibliography.

In the last number of years Praxis Care has focused on developing services for people with the most complex needs in the areas of mental health, autism and/or learning disabilities. In parallel we are seeking to identify the most relevant evidence based research from around the world, using this to drive improvement and innovation.  This focus is reflected in our portfolio of Current Projects.

Our research objectives are to:

1. Ensure our services employ interventions that are evidence based;
2. Contribute significantly to the body of research in the areas of mental ill health, learning disability and autism. This particularly focuses on people whose behaviours challenge traditional service models and including people with a personality disorder and those with a forensic history.
3. Use this research to help influence government policy on the care and support of these groups of people.
4. Investigate those issues in social care which impact on staff recruitment, development and retention.

In order to further these objectives we have:

• Strengthened our Research Department, including the appointment of a Praxis Professor of Social Care, with Queen’s University of Belfast
• Funded a number of PhD projects, internal and external. Opportunities to participate in research, up to and including PhD level continue to be available.
• Our Research Partnerships are important to us and we have collaborated with a number of organisations on a range of important research projects.