Sustainability in an action research project: 5 years of a Dignity and Respect Action Group in a hospital setting

In March 2004 we delivered a new module entitled ‘Fostering Dignity and Respect in Health Care Settings’. This was a collaborative venture between Anglia Ruskin University lecturers and Southend University Hospital Staff and was the first step in our Action Research project. We had expected the project to be a short-term one, terminating with the first three deliveries of the module. However, the education programme led to the formation of a Dignity and Respect Action Group within the hospital that continues to this day alongside deliveries of the module, and thus the Action Research project continues. In this paper we outline the achievements of the Action Research study and identifies some of the features that we believe have sustained it over a period of 5 years. These factors were not always the consequence of planned strategies but often arose as we responded to events during the trajectory of the project. Issues relating to dignity and respect are to be found in many large institutions and we maintain that Action Research can be useful in harnessing and focussing the necessary commitment to bring about long-term changes in a hospital setting.