MARY LARKIN
Biographic Data
| ID | 6033048 |
|---|---|
| NAME | MARY LARKIN |
| GIVEN NAMES | MARY |
| FAMILY NAME | LARKIN |
| SIGNATURE | LARKIN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Open University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8368-6436 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 44 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Rethinking the care of older people in care settings
Relational care is an emerging approach to supporting older people and carers, gaining momentum as part of a broader movement to reimagine adult social care. Drawing on a qualitative study conducted across residential care homes, sheltered housing and day care settings in the UK, this article defines relational care and identifies its most significant features in the context of older people. Spanning conceptual, knowledge and research development…
Student carers in distance higher education
Family Carers and Caring
Family Carers and Caring brings together a range of material and evidence about carers from different sources presented in an accessible and yet academically informed way to make sense of the complexities of family carers and caring, carving a coherent path through the academic, policy, socio-political, and practice terrain.
Knowledge generation and former carers
While their increasing number is achieving some academic and public recognition, former carers occupy a liminal status, are often hidden, and experience a range of negative legacies related to caring. Existing research on former carers is limited in both quantity and quality, and former caring tends to be viewed as an end stage of the overall caring trajectory. A number of theories and concepts employed to enrich the wider carers field have the p…
Older Carers and Carers of People with Dementia
The policy drive to support carers is a longstanding national and international priority. Research about the design and delivery of support for carers is critical to the underpinning evidence base. Through a timely exploration of a third sector perspective, the UK-based study discussed in this article provides insights into approaches to, and the commissioning of, support for older carers and carers of people with dementia. The study highlights t…
Carer‐related research and knowledge
The review discussed in this paper provides a unique synthesis of evidence and knowledge about carers. The authors adopted a scoping review methodology drawing on a wide range of material from many different sources published between 2000 and 2016. It offers key insights into what we know and how we know it; reinforces and expands evidence about carers' profile; shows knowledge is uneven, e.g. much is known about working carers, young carers and …
Surveillance, intervention and the politics of care
This article connects with debates about the use of surveillance technology to detect, report and prevent abuse in care settings. Grounded in a Heideggerian theorisation of care as intervention, it argues that care unfolds in people’s deliberations and decisions about whether and how to intercede when abuse is suspected. Such reflections reveal the politics of care because they are contingent on how the need for care is constructed, and actions s…
The carer-related knowledge exchange network (Caren)
Background: Although there is now an extensive international body of research and evidence about care and carers it is fragmented and disparate. Without synthesis, organisation and accessibility it cannot effectively inform and improve policy and practice with carers. Key points for discussion: This paper makes the case for an accessible carer-related research and evidence resource for stakeholders in carer-related domains across policy, practice…
What do we know about older former carers? Key issues and themes
Despite a significant growth in the number older former family carers, they remain largely invisible in carer-related research and literature. To begin to address this deficit, a four-stage literature review was conducted to identify existing knowledge about older former carers. Narrative synthesis of the findings yielded five themes - the concept of 'older former carer', the legacies of caring, influences on the legacies of caring, conceptualisi…
Care and caring
Knowledge generation about care-giving in the UK
While discourse about care and caring is well developed in the UK, the nature of knowledge generation about care and the research paradigms that underpin it have been subjected to limited critical reflection and analysis. An overarching synthesis of evidence - intended to promote debate and facilitate new understandings - identifies two largely separate bodies of carer-related research. The first body of work - referred to as Gathering and Evalua…
Carers, Choice and Personalisation
Despite the long-term strategic shift to personalisation, with its emphasis on choice and control for those who use public services, there has been relatively little policy consideration of family carers’ choice within personalisation. The relationship between carers and personalisation also remains under-researched. This article is based on a review of existing knowledge around personalisation. It shows that carer choice is highly complex, not l…
Developing the knowledge base about carers and personalisation
This qualitative study aimed to explore an under-researched issue within the emerging body of research about carers and personalisation - the carer-service user relationship. It was carried out across 11 English local authorities between 2011 and 2012 and focused on the impact of a change in the service user's social care arrangements to a personal budget on this relationship. Using purposive sampling and explicit inclusion criteria, data were ga…
Carers and Empowerment in the UK
This article provides a critical reflection on carer empowerment in the UK, an issue which has received limited attention in policy and research. The arena is characterised by considerable conceptual confusion around key terminology, carer, care and caring, and by limited understanding of the meaning and outcomes of carer empowerment. Addressing these challenges, alongside developing a robust theoretical foundation for taking the ‘carers' agenda’…
New partnerships in health and social care for an era of public spending cuts
This article discusses a research partnership framework based on a collaborative relationship that was initially established between a carers' organisation and a university with the aim of maximising the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of health and social care research in an era of public spending cuts. As each partner gradually formed several similar partnerships, it was developed into a framework for research partnerships between third sector …
Life after Caring
This qualitative study was informed by grounded theory and data were gathered primarily through semi-structured in-depth interviews with thirty-seven theoretically sampled former carers. They were all white British, lived in the East Midlands and were predominately over sixty (68 per cent) and female (70 per cent). With the exception of one, all had cared for a close relative, 65 per cent having cared for a partner/spouse. Most of their dependant…
Care and caring
Carers and Empowerment in the UK
This article provides a critical reflection on carer empowerment in the UK, an issue which has received limited attention in policy and research. The arena is characterised by considerable conceptual confusion around key terminology, carer, care and caring, and by limited understanding of the meaning and outcomes of carer empowerment. Addressing these challenges, alongside developing a robust theoretical foundation for taking the ‘carers' agenda’…
Developing the knowledge base about carers and personalisation
This qualitative study aimed to explore an under-researched issue within the emerging body of research about carers and personalisation - the carer-service user relationship. It was carried out across 11 English local authorities between 2011 and 2012 and focused on the impact of a change in the service user's social care arrangements to a personal budget on this relationship. Using purposive sampling and explicit inclusion criteria, data were ga…
Life after Caring
This qualitative study was informed by grounded theory and data were gathered primarily through semi-structured in-depth interviews with thirty-seven theoretically sampled former carers. They were all white British, lived in the East Midlands and were predominately over sixty (68 per cent) and female (70 per cent). With the exception of one, all had cared for a close relative, 65 per cent having cared for a partner/spouse. Most of their dependant…
Carers, Choice and Personalisation
Despite the long-term strategic shift to personalisation, with its emphasis on choice and control for those who use public services, there has been relatively little policy consideration of family carers’ choice within personalisation. The relationship between carers and personalisation also remains under-researched. This article is based on a review of existing knowledge around personalisation. It shows that carer choice is highly complex, not l…
New partnerships in health and social care for an era of public spending cuts
This article discusses a research partnership framework based on a collaborative relationship that was initially established between a carers' organisation and a university with the aim of maximising the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of health and social care research in an era of public spending cuts. As each partner gradually formed several similar partnerships, it was developed into a framework for research partnerships between third sector …
Knowledge generation and former carers
While their increasing number is achieving some academic and public recognition, former carers occupy a liminal status, are often hidden, and experience a range of negative legacies related to caring. Existing research on former carers is limited in both quantity and quality, and former caring tends to be viewed as an end stage of the overall caring trajectory. A number of theories and concepts employed to enrich the wider carers field have the p…
Life after Caring
This qualitative study was informed by grounded theory and data were gathered primarily through semi-structured in-depth interviews with thirty-seven theoretically sampled former carers. They were all white British, lived in the East Midlands and were predominately over sixty (68 per cent) and female (70 per cent). With the exception of one, all had cared for a close relative, 65 per cent having cared for a partner/spouse. Most of their dependant…
New partnerships in health and social care for an era of public spending cuts
This article discusses a research partnership framework based on a collaborative relationship that was initially established between a carers' organisation and a university with the aim of maximising the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of health and social care research in an era of public spending cuts. As each partner gradually formed several similar partnerships, it was developed into a framework for research partnerships between third sector …
Carers and Empowerment in the UK
This article provides a critical reflection on carer empowerment in the UK, an issue which has received limited attention in policy and research. The arena is characterised by considerable conceptual confusion around key terminology, carer, care and caring, and by limited understanding of the meaning and outcomes of carer empowerment. Addressing these challenges, alongside developing a robust theoretical foundation for taking the ‘carers' agenda’…
Developing the knowledge base about carers and personalisation
This qualitative study aimed to explore an under-researched issue within the emerging body of research about carers and personalisation - the carer-service user relationship. It was carried out across 11 English local authorities between 2011 and 2012 and focused on the impact of a change in the service user's social care arrangements to a personal budget on this relationship. Using purposive sampling and explicit inclusion criteria, data were ga…
Knowledge generation about care-giving in the UK
While discourse about care and caring is well developed in the UK, the nature of knowledge generation about care and the research paradigms that underpin it have been subjected to limited critical reflection and analysis. An overarching synthesis of evidence - intended to promote debate and facilitate new understandings - identifies two largely separate bodies of carer-related research. The first body of work - referred to as Gathering and Evalua…
Carers, Choice and Personalisation
Despite the long-term strategic shift to personalisation, with its emphasis on choice and control for those who use public services, there has been relatively little policy consideration of family carers’ choice within personalisation. The relationship between carers and personalisation also remains under-researched. This article is based on a review of existing knowledge around personalisation. It shows that carer choice is highly complex, not l…
What do we know about older former carers? Key issues and themes
Despite a significant growth in the number older former family carers, they remain largely invisible in carer-related research and literature. To begin to address this deficit, a four-stage literature review was conducted to identify existing knowledge about older former carers. Narrative synthesis of the findings yielded five themes - the concept of 'older former carer', the legacies of caring, influences on the legacies of caring, conceptualisi…
Care and caring
The carer-related knowledge exchange network (Caren)
Background: Although there is now an extensive international body of research and evidence about care and carers it is fragmented and disparate. Without synthesis, organisation and accessibility it cannot effectively inform and improve policy and practice with carers. Key points for discussion: This paper makes the case for an accessible carer-related research and evidence resource for stakeholders in carer-related domains across policy, practice…
Carer‐related research and knowledge
The review discussed in this paper provides a unique synthesis of evidence and knowledge about carers. The authors adopted a scoping review methodology drawing on a wide range of material from many different sources published between 2000 and 2016. It offers key insights into what we know and how we know it; reinforces and expands evidence about carers' profile; shows knowledge is uneven, e.g. much is known about working carers, young carers and …
Surveillance, intervention and the politics of care
This article connects with debates about the use of surveillance technology to detect, report and prevent abuse in care settings. Grounded in a Heideggerian theorisation of care as intervention, it argues that care unfolds in people’s deliberations and decisions about whether and how to intercede when abuse is suspected. Such reflections reveal the politics of care because they are contingent on how the need for care is constructed, and actions s…
Knowledge generation and former carers
While their increasing number is achieving some academic and public recognition, former carers occupy a liminal status, are often hidden, and experience a range of negative legacies related to caring. Existing research on former carers is limited in both quantity and quality, and former caring tends to be viewed as an end stage of the overall caring trajectory. A number of theories and concepts employed to enrich the wider carers field have the p…
Older Carers and Carers of People with Dementia
The policy drive to support carers is a longstanding national and international priority. Research about the design and delivery of support for carers is critical to the underpinning evidence base. Through a timely exploration of a third sector perspective, the UK-based study discussed in this article provides insights into approaches to, and the commissioning of, support for older carers and carers of people with dementia. The study highlights t…
Family Carers and Caring
Family Carers and Caring brings together a range of material and evidence about carers from different sources presented in an accessible and yet academically informed way to make sense of the complexities of family carers and caring, carving a coherent path through the academic, policy, socio-political, and practice terrain.
Rethinking the care of older people in care settings
Relational care is an emerging approach to supporting older people and carers, gaining momentum as part of a broader movement to reimagine adult social care. Drawing on a qualitative study conducted across residential care homes, sheltered housing and day care settings in the UK, this article defines relational care and identifies its most significant features in the context of older people. Spanning conceptual, knowledge and research development…
Student carers in distance higher education
Psychology (11 works) · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving (10 works) · Medicine (10 works) · Nursing (9 works) · Healthcare innovation and challenges (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Public relations (6 works) · Engineering (5 works) · Business (4 works)