RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 P-246 Evaluating the benefits of make, do and mend
JF BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care
JO BMJ Support Palliat Care
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP A101
OP A101
DO 10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-HUKNC.268
VO 9
IS Suppl 4
A1 Lawson, Lynsey
YR 2019
UL http://spcare.bmj.com/content/9/Suppl_4/A101.1.abstract
AB Background In December 2017 St Mary’s Hospice made a successful application to the Masonic Charitable Foundation Hospice Bereavement Care programme. This application shared our hope to develop a ‘Make, Do and Mend workshop’ following an internal audit of referrals into the service. This audit identified that the number of bereaved women who came forward for care and support from us, far outnumbered men. We wanted to reach out to these ‘missing men’.Aims Our project aimed to set up a ‘Make, Do and Mend’ workshop within our retail warehouse, reaching out to bereaved men and women, those caring for their partner or living with their own life-shortening illness. Workshop participants will work alongside each other on a variety of projects and the essence of the group is not building, but the connections, relationships and support between members.Method The workshop will be led by an experienced retail manager and bereavement staff and volunteers, and will take place in a fully equipped DIY workshop environment. The workshops will run throughout the year on Wednesday and Saturday mornings and participants will be invited to attend eight sessions. Through the use of the Warwick-Edinburgh Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) we will seek to evidence an improvement in participants’ wellbeing at the end of the eight week programme.Results Ten workshops have been completed attended by 50 clients (34 men and 16 women). Through the use of the WEMWBS we have identified significant improvements in all 14 areas of the scale as well as clients narratively reporting improvements such as an 80 year old gentleman stating ‘The company and overall community feel of the workshop have helped me greatly. We are all in the same boat and support each another through loss’.