ARU Research Report 2019

The Up Project 11 applicable or relevant to those who have dementia in its later stages and reside in a nursing home. Therefore, a greater understanding of the benefits for UK specific IGPs, where school age children visit care home dwelling individuals with dementia is needed, which this report hopes to address. Research which reports benefits outside of attitudes towards older adults, and reciprocal enjoyment is also needed in this context. It is important to build upon this existing and sometimes contradictory research base to provide a clearer picture of if, how, and for whom, IGPs offer benefits, and if they can serve as mechanisms with wider social, educational, health and community implications. Why do we Need to Research the Up Project? The evaluation of programmes such as Up is crucial in order to understand how effective they are at achieving their intended outcomes. During the first two years of the Up project the care home and school began to document some of the anecdotal evidence they observed in relation to the benefits taking part offered to school children and older adults. They too began to tell the story of the Up project wherever possible, to inspire other schools and care homes to explore the possibilities intergenerational interactions. The purpose of this research was to build on this, capturing this evidence systematically for the first time. This case study of the Up project therefore will not only make a contribution to the UK situated IGP research base, but will provide documentary support from which the continuation and further funding for the Up project beyond 2020 could be justified.