Choice and independence over the lifecourse: final report to the Department of Health: Between 2006 and 2011 the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of York carried out a programme of research on choice for disabled and older people who need social care support, and their family carers, called ‘Choice and Independence over the Lifecourse’. This final report for the Department of Health (DH) provides an overview of this programme of research. The account of the research is divided into 3 sections: projects funded from the main DH programme grant; projects funded through SPRU’s ‘responsive mode’ capacity; and other projects linked to the DH programme. An account of the relevance of the research programme to DH policy and its implementation at local levels is also provided. The research conducted by SPRU within its DH-funded programme has, for the most part, been concerned with issues of choice, from the perspectives of users, carers, service providers and managers. At the heart of the programme was a major long-term study of disabled young people, working age adults and older people as their health and other circumstances changed. The report concludes with a list of the published outputs (peer reviewed journal articles, books and reports, research summaries, professional press, and presentations) emerging from this research programme.
