Prf Mary Larkin
Professor Of Care, Carers And Caring
Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies
Biography
Professional biography
As my professorial title indicates, my main research interests are primarily: care, carers and caring (paid and unpaid) but more specifically include adult social care, relational care, student carers, former carers, carers of people with type 2 diabetes, older carers, carer and service user empowerment, the third sector and the life course approach to health and well-being.
I have led on a number of funded projects; undertaken (national and international) consultancies, mentoring, Advisory posts, NICE Guideline Committee membership, Research Fellowships and Commission Panel memberships around these areas; been a member of. a number of national and international (professional, government and public) bodies; Over the past few years I have been committed to maximising the potential of the existing carer-related knowledge and evidence base to inform policy, services and interventions to support carers. To this end I set up an international carers research collaborative network; co-founded the International Journal of Care and Caring (IJCC); co-produced the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) ‘Carers’ hub’. (https://www.scie.org.uk/carers/knowledge-review) and set up a freely accessible Carer-related knowledge Exchange Network (CAREN) (www.open.ac.uk/caren).
Within the OU, I established the Care and Caring network @OU (http://intranet6.open.ac.uk/staff/ou-caring-network/). Through this network, I spearheaded significant institutional changes for student carer and staff support. Notable achievements include the first ever Carer scholarship scheme (http://business-school.open.ac.uk/news/open-university-launches-scholarship-fund-to-support-carers); a Student carers help page; a Student carer policy; the OU’s Carer Positive employer award; the OU’s membership of Employers for Carers; and an OU Dependants and Carers policy. . I also established and led the OU's Carer research group which uniquely enhances the OU’s research portfolio; enables the OU to respond to carer’s prioritisation within policy and research; and undertakes pioneering scholarship that informs support and retention of student carers and extending educational opportunities to carers.
As Emeritus Professor I continue to be involved with ongoing research projects, publish widely, carry out PhD supervision and examination, maintain my extensive networks and give presentations about my work.
Research interests
Current research activities include:
- Projects around embedding relational care in care homes and community-based settings in the UK
- The OU's “Learning pathways for Carers' programme
- PhD supervision
- Book proposal, book, research proposal and journal paper reviewer
Teaching interests
In the Universities in which I have been employed I have had numerous teaching and module leadership responsibilities across health and social care curricula. I have also authored various Open Learn courses.
Impact and engagement
Membership or offices held in learned societies and professional bodies
2016-18: National Institute for Health Research School for Social Care Research
2011-14: Honorary Research Fellow – Third Sector Research Centre
Membership of Government or other public committees
2023: Appointed as Member of Department of Health and Social Care ‘Care Workforce Pathway - Expert Consultation Group’
2023: Appointed as a Trustee, Carers Network Westminster
2021 -22: Appointed as Scientific Board Member of the European Commission “Social services with particular focus on personal targeted social services for people in vulnerable situations” programme
2020: Appointed as Member of the Ministerial COVID-19 Adult Social Care Taskforce (to implement the Government’s COVID-19 Adult Social Care Plan
2019: Appointed as Member of the Ministerial Carers Action Plan Oversight Group
2017- 20: Appointed as Member NICE Guideline Committee – Provision of support for adult carers
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2017: Appointed as Member of NHS England Commitment to Carers Oversight Group |
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2016-17: Appointed as Member of the cross-Government Independent Advisory Group on Carers |
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2016: Chair, Research and Evidence Task and Finish Group, Standing Commission on Carers |
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2016: Commission Panel member - Carers Trust ‘Care Act 2014 for Carers One Year On’ |
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2015-16: Appointed as Member of the cross-Government Standing Commission on Carers |
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2015-16: Member of the Department of Health’s National Carers Strategy Reference Group |
Consultancies
2021: Academic consultant to the 2-part OU/BBC series ‘Inside the Care Crisis with Ed Balls’ Academic consultant to the 2-part OU/BBC series ‘Inside the Care Crisis with Ed Balls’
2020: Advisor to the Cabinet office on post COVID-19 interventions for carers
2018: Advisor to Behavioural Science team in the Department for Work and Pensions on the Carers Employment Digital Discovery project
2018: Department of Health and Social care - forthcoming Green Paper on Care and Support for Older People
2017: Government Office for Science - Informal care expert group
2017: Development of the ‘business case’ for enhanced carer support - NHS England
2013-14 : Development of a ‘Carers Hub’ - Royal College of General Practitioners
2012-8: Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) Co-production Network
2011-14: Advisor to the Finnish Government on the development of a Finnish National Carers Strategy - Finnish Association of Caregiving Relatives and Friends
2008-09: Devising one of the seven modules in the Department of Health’s “Caring with confidence” programme (2008-2011)
Membership of Project Advisory Groups
2014-16: Department of Education’s “The lives of young carers” project
2012-3: 2 SCIE Guides - GP services for older people: A guide for care home managers” and “Dying well at home: the case for integrated working
2008-10: European Social Fund project “Driving change in welfare services for the
aged”
Academic editorial work
2016-20: Associate Editor and Editorial Board member, International Journal of Care and Caring
2016-20: Reviews Editor, International Journal of Care and Caring
On-going: Book proposal reviewer for Sage Publications, McGraw-Hill, OUP, Routledge and Pearsons Textbooks
Reviewer for: Ageing and Society, British Journal of Social Work, British Medical Journal, Health and Social Care in the Community (awarded Reviewer certificate in 2018), Journal of Health Services Research and Policy. Journal of Public Policy, Journal of Social Policy and Society, People, Journal of Social Work in Health Care, Place and Policy, Quality in Ageing and Older Adults (2016 Outstanding Reviewer Award), Sage Open, European Journal of Social Work, Community Work and Family
Book reviewer for Journal of Social Policy and Policy Press
Proposal Reviewer for Economic and Social Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, School for Social Care Research, the Irish Research Council, Dunhill Medical Trust and HRB Open Research
Social Care Elf and Mental Elf blogger/contributor
External examining
2023: PhD Examiner, Edgehill University
2023: PhD Examiner, Portsmouth University
2020: PhD Examiner, University of London
2020: PhD Examiner, University of East Anglia
2017: PhD Examiner, Nottingham University
2015: PhD Examiner, Nottingham University
2015: PhD Examiner, Kingston University (Chair)
2014: PhD Examiner, St George’s, University of London
2013-5: Undergraduate External Examiner, The Open University
2008-12: Undergraduate External Examiner, Birmingham City University
July 2007: External member of validation panel for BSc Health and Well-being, Birmingham City University
External collaborations
Carers Network, Westminster
Carers MK Diabetes UK
Carers Trust
Carers UK
Carers MK
CLASP (Leicester)
Department of Health and Social care
Employers for carers
Hallmark Foundation
NHS England
NHS Commitment to Carers programme.
National Institute for Health and Care Evidence
Social Care Institute for Excellence
International links
The University of Newcastle (UON) New South Wales, Australia
Carers New South Wales, Australia
Southern Services Reform Group, Adelaide, Australia
Care Alliance (Ireland)
Family Carers Ireland
Family Carers Research Forum
Laurea University, Finland
Eurocarers
Swedish Family Care Competence Centre, Sweden
Canadian Home Care Association
Careum Foundation, Switzerland
Carers Japan
Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, UC Davis USA
American Association of Retired Persons AARP
Projects
Development of a model of relational care for care homes and community-based settings in the UK
This project will develop a model of relational care and a tool that a) assesses the extent to which dimensions of relational care are present in a particular care setting for the purpose decision-making, standards-setting and inspections and (b) encouraging and embedding more widespread use of relational care.
Improving the support for older people with learning disabilities and behaviours that challenge, family and professional carers, and end of life care planning for carers.
There are around 900,000 learning disabled people in the UK and around a fifth are estimated to engage in behaviours that challenge (BTC). These behaviours often occur when the person is upset by a change in their environment. While research and NICE guidance exists on older learning disabled people and their family carers, and separately on people with BTC; policy and research in the UK has so far failed to address how services can be addressed to support older learning disabled people with BTC. We know very little about how family caregivers face the choices and challenges about caregiving as they become older but know that decisions can be left too late to enable choice. We know even less about the experiences of older people with BTC particularly in the context of transitioning to older people’s services, in periods of crisis or at end of life. There is an even more pronounced absence in the academic and grey literature regarding the lives and experiences of older learning disabled people with no family carers. Our study will explore the support and health needs of older learning disabled people and carers and identify ways of easing transitions to different care settings through forward planning and reducing the development of BTC. This is particularly important as learning disabled people are living to an older age. We will explore how carers manage their caring role as they age themselves. How they experience and negotiate behaviours that challenge. How the concept of forward planning can be introduced in a way that is acceptable and reassuring to carers and their children. How health, social care and end of life care services can best support older learning disabled people with BTC including situations where active family involvement is absent. And how commissioners can be innovative in developing a service infrastructure that better meets the needs of this group.
Carers Knowledge Exchange Resource
The primary focus of this timely 16 month project is a comprehensive scoping review of carer-related knowledge. The review will have two complementary purposes. One is to provide a unique mapping of carer-related evidence and knowledge, extending understanding about the nature of ‘what is known’ and building on existing foundations for research and knowledge exchange. The scoping review will be academically robust and detailed; its findings will be widely disseminated and offered in a number of formats. It will also contribute to the identification of future research priorities relating to carers and inform social care practice. The second purpose of the scoping review is that it will underpin a freely available digitalised resource developed in partnership with, and hosted and updated by, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). This sustainable resource will be for use by commissioners, care workers, social workers, carers’ organisations, carers support workers, carers and service users. It will play an essential role in meeting the Care Act 2014 information and knowledge exchange requirements and support quality social care practice with carers and those for whom they care.
Exemplar models identification and support of older Carers and Carers of people with dementia
The project will work with system and voluntary sector partners to identify exemplar models identification and support of older Carers and Carers of people with dementia.
Exemplar models identification and support of older Carers and Carers of people with dementia - extension
The project will work with system and voluntary sector partners to identify exemplar models identification and support of older Carers and all Carers of people with dementia (i.e. carers of all ages, and also people of all ages who may have dementia). - extension to original project brief
Publications
Book
Family Carers and Caring: What it’s all about (2023)
Health and Well-Being Across the Life Course (2013)
Book Chapter
Former carers: Grief, loss and other stories (2024)
Unpaid Care Global Growth and Policies for Sustainability (2020)
Care of vulnerable adults (2012)
Working with vulnerable people: experiences of disability (2012)
Disability and illness: the perspective of people living with a long-term condition (2012)
Digital Artefact
Being needed - fulfilling the potential of mutual relationships (2023)
How can Adult Carers get the best support during Covid-19 pandemic and beyond? (2020)
Young carers,COVID-19 and physical activity (2020)
The effects of self-isolation and lack of physical activity on carers. (2020)
Why carers are disadvantaged even when their responsibilities end (2015)
Testing stress training for black and minority ethnic carers of people with dementia (2015)
Testing a person-centred approach to carer support (2015)
Attachment in people with dementia and their carers (2015)
Do high levels of caring mean poorer carer mental health? (2015)
Carers policy and practice: what about ‘former carers’? (2014)
Demand for informal care is rising but supply is set to fall - we must solve this conundrum (2012)
Journal Article
Older Carers and Carers of People with Dementia: Improving and Developing Effective Support (2022)
Carers and Higher Education: Where next? (2021)
Knowledge generation and former carers: reflections and ways forward (2021)
Surveillance, intervention and the politics of care (2019)
Carer related research and knowledge: findings from a scoping review (2019)
[Book review] Margarita León (ed.) (2014), The Transformation of Care in European Societies (2016)
Carers, choice and personalisation: what do we know? (2016)
Caring in the 21st century: research evidence and knowledge generation (2015)
Knowledge generation about care-giving in the UK: a critical review of research paradigms (2014)
Carers and empowerment in the UK: a critical reflection (2014)
New partnerships in health and social care for an era of public spending cuts (2012)
Life after caring: the post-caring experiences of former carers (2009)
Group support during caring and post-caring - the role of carers groups (2008)
Other
Relational Care - with Mary Larkin and Manik Deepak-Gopinath [Podcast] (2023)
Care and caring network@OU news bulletin 2019 (2019)
Caring for carers - the Open University's carer scholarship scheme (2019)
To meaningfully support carers, we must rethink their purpose and contribution (2018)
Care and caring network@OU news bulletin 2018 (2018)
Including Family Carers: Adding Value and Impact to Research (2017)
Presentation / Conference
Learning and reskilling pathways for carers [Keynote Presentation] (2023)
The 'Learning pathways for carers programme' (2023)
Caring for our Student carers (2021)
Caring about Student carers (2020)
Caring about student carers (2020)
Caring about student carers (2020)
Knowledge exchange: making the most of scoping reviews (2019)
Maximising the potential of carer research and knowledge (2018)
Understanding the needs of caring experienced learners (2018)
Carer resilience: ways forward for evidence-based policy and practice (2018)
The case for a knowledge exchange network (CAREN) (2017)
The case for a carer knowledge exchange network (CAREN) (2017)
The case for a Carer knowledge exchange network (CAREN) (2017)
Carer Research and Knowledge Scoping Review (2017)
Former’ older carers: their profile and needs (2017)
'Former' older carers - what do we know about their profile and needs? (2016)
Making room for fomer carers (2015)
What do we know about carer perspectives in mental health and disability services?” (2014)
Where to now for carer research? (2014)
Is the third sector going to survive ‘personalisation? (2013)
Personal budgets and the carer-service user relationship”. (2013)
The UK’s National Carers Strategy 2008: How did we get there and where are we going? (2012)
Personalisation: what will the impacts be for carers (2012)
Partnerships between universities and the Third Sector (2011)
The UK’s National Carers Strategy 2008 - how did we get there and where are we going? (2011)
A forgotten partnership? The carer-service user partnership and personalisation (2010)
Promoting service user and carer empowerment in health and social care (2010)
Once a carer, always a carer? Exploring identity changes post-caring (2009)
Report
Seeing the wood for the trees. Carer related research and knowledge: A scoping review (2017)
Personal Budgets And The Carer- Service User Relationship (2014)
Personalisation: what will the impacts be for carers? (2011)
