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
What is SCRQoL?
Social care-related quality of life (SCRQoL) refers to those aspects of people's quality of life that are relevant to and the focus of social care interventions. While individual services or interventions may focus on particular aspects or domains, and some domains will be more relevant to some user groups than others, the aim is for the measure of SCRQoL to be applicable across as wide a range of user groups and care and support settings as possible.
What is capacity to benefit (CtB)?
CtB is the difference between expected levels of SCRQoL in the absence of the intervention and the maximum that could be achieved by that service or intervention. This maximum is decided on the basis of what the intervention is intended to deliver.
What types of questions will these tools answer?
- In which areas of SCRQoL are there worrying levels of need? This is a normative question. A council might not want to see anyone reporting high levels of need in basic domains of personal cleanliness and comfort or safety. What groups have these needs and is there any particular service or situation that seems to be associated with them?
- In which areas of SCRQoL are there highest levels of need? Are these areas inevitable and not seen to be something for which the local authority has particular responsibility? Or are they priorities that need to be addressed directly or indirectly? For example, we might expect to see higher levels of need in the domain of occupation for older people compared with other groups. Is this a priority now with the advent of equalities legislation, or is it something that cannot be afforded within the social services budget but might be a case where initiatives may be undertaken with other agencies to improve the access these groups have to universal services?
- Are levels of need associated with services not addressing the problem (i.e. not identified as helping) or not delivering (helping but needs still reported)
- Which groups have high levels of needs in which domains? Is this about the nature of the groups (more likely to have needs in these areas of their lives) or inadequacies in the services they are receiving?
- Do people with personal budgets have a wider range of domains addressed and/or better levels of outcomes than those still receiving traditional service packages? If so, is this because they are more able or have more support from others?
- Is increasing expenditure associated with higher-level needs, improved outcomes or both?
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