As a researcher I am passionate about inclusive and participatory research practices and the ethics of involving people who are often deemed vulnerable or to lack capacity.
I worked in learning disability services for nine years before starting my PhD to explore transitions in the lives of adults with severe or profound intellectual disabilities. I completed my PhD at the beginning of 2021.
Since then I worked on projects exploring the disruption of adoption and permanent fostering placements, the mental health of young people in care, with a focus on neurodiversity, and how to support couples with a learning disability when one partner has dementia.
I am interested in care-relationships, how care is practiced and experienced within social care, and how wider processes and factors shape decision-making within care settings. I am experienced in using ethnography, life story research, case studies, focus groups and creative methods to facilitate interviews.
Learning Disability, Social Care, Inclusive and Participatory Research, Narrative
Project Report
Permanently Progressing? Building secure futures for children: Phase 2 Middle Childhood
Whincup H, Cusworth L, Grant M, Jacobs P, Hooper J, Critchley A, Hennessy A & Matthews B (2024) Permanently Progressing? Building secure futures for children: Phase 2 Middle Childhood. Nuffield Foundation. Stirling: University of Stirling. https://permanentlyprogressing.stir.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PP-Phase-2-Final-Report-Web-Sept-2024.docx
Article
Watchman K, Jacobs P, Boustead L, Doyle A, Doyle L, Murdoch J, Carson J, Hoyle L & Wilkinson H (2024) “How will we cope?” Couples with intellectual disability where one partner has a diagnosis of dementia.. The Gerontologist, Art. No.: gnae030. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnae030
Article
Jacobs P, Watchman K, Wilkinson H & Hoyle L (2023) Couples with intellectual disability where one partner has dementia – a scoping review exploring relationships in the context of dementia and intellectual disability. Ageing and Society. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x22001416
Article
Jacobs P, Quayle E & Wilkinson H (2023) "What is my experience of what I am in relation to people who I have shared my life with for the last 34 years?": exploring care relationships at the end of life in two life-sharing communities for people with a learning disability. International Journal of Care and Caring.
Article
Experiences of people with intellectual disability and dementia: A systematic review
Jacobs P, Watchman K, Wilkinson H, Hoyle L & McGenily L (2022) Experiences of people with intellectual disability and dementia: A systematic review. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.13063
Article
Jacobs P, Quayle E, Wilkinson H & MacMahon K (2021) Relationships matter! - Utilising ethics of care to understand transitions in the lives of adults with severe intellectual disabilities. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 49 (3), pp. 329-340. https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12380
Article
‘Making narrative portraits: a methodological approach to analysing qualitative data’
Rodríguez-Dorans E & Jacobs P (2020) ‘Making narrative portraits: a methodological approach to analysing qualitative data’. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 23 (6), pp. 611-623. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1719609
Article
Jacobs P, MacMahon K & Quayle E (2018) Transition from school to adult services for young people with severe or profound intellectual disability: A systematic review utilizing framework synthesis. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 31 (6), pp. 962-982. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12466
