Personal Social Services Research Unit
Cornwallis Building
George Allen Wing
University of Kent
Canterbury
Kent
CT2 7NF
01227 827672
ascot@kent.ac.uk
www.pssru.ac.uk/ascot
The ASCOT measure is designed to capture information about an individual's social care-related quality of life (SCRQoL). The aim is for the measure to be applicable across as wide a range of user groups and care and support settings as possible.
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In identifying and defining the domains, the aim is to ensure the measure is sensitive to outcomes of social care.
Using the current version of ASCOT, outcomes can be measured in a number of ways:
- As changes over time in 'current' SCRQoL
- As the difference between 'current' SCRQoL and 'expected SCRQoL in the absence of the service' (SCRQoL gain)
- As predicted SCRQoL gain using current SCRQoL and indirect indicators of expected SCRQoL
It can also be used to generate capacity to benefit (CtB) scores for individuals, which are based on expected SCRQoL.
We provide a number of instruments for measuring these in different settings:
- SCT4
A four-level self-report version that measures current SCRQoL in community settings - INT4
A four-level interview version that measures current and expected SCRQoL in community settings - SCT3
A three-level self-report version developed for day care settings that measures current SCRQoL and can generate predicted SCRQoL gain from indirect indicators based on previous research (see below) - CH3
A three-level rating schedule which generates current and expected SCRQoL based on observation and interviews for use in communal living settings
Further details about the distinction between the three- and four-level versions can be found here.
The scoring for the measure is based on population preference weights in order to reflect the relative importance of different aspects of SCRQoL reflected in the domains.
The toolkit also includes data entry tools that can be used to enter data collected with these instruments and generate sample and individual ASCOT scores for current, expected and gain in SCRQoL, and for capacity to benefit.
ASCOT has drawn on the results of PSSRU work conducted in collaboration with others as part of MOPSU, a Treasury-funded project that was led by ONS and which reported in June 2010. This work covered the measurement of outcomes in care homes, day care and information, advice and advocacy services (see below), and an HTA funded study that further developed the measure and generated the final preference weights. The report of this study is currently under review.
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2696/2: Measuring the outcomes of care homes: final report
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2699: Measuring the outcomes of low-level services: final report
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2713: Measuring the outcomes of information and advice services: final report
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Various documents on the ASCOT website will require you to be able to open PDF files. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader for this; this is available free from Adobe. |