August 19, 2019
We are delighted to announce the start of a new project at the PSSRU titled ‘Developing a scale of work-related wellbeing at work for adult social care staff (ASCOT-STAFF): Phase One’ funded by the National Institute for Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit (NIHR200070), to start on the 9th of September 2019.
The project is led by Associate Director Professor Shereen Hussein and the team includes Nadia Brookes, Sinead Palmer, Barbora Silarova (PSSRU) and Ann-Marie Towers (CHSS).
The study aims to develop a way of measuring the impact of care work on care worker’s quality of life. It will begin development of an ASCOT-Staff measure, examining the quality of life of care staff, and the impact of care work upon this.
The focus of this research, is to understand and decide on the main aspects of care work that impact on the quality of life of staff working in social care in the UK. The study adopts a mixed-methods’ research design including a literature review, focus group discussions, interviews and an online survey.
The study benefits from a strong advisory group and partners including academics, practitioners, people using the services and interested stakeholders. These include Professors Ann Netten, Allister MacGregor (Sheffield University), Teppo Kröger (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) and Sara Charlesworth (RMIT, Australia); representatives from UNISON, Skills for Care, National Care Association, care workers and social care users.
The potential impact of this work is significant, given the difficulties of retaining and recruiting high quality care staff to a growing, and often under-funded, sector. Capturing the impact of care staffs’ work-related quality of life on users’ outcomes and other indicators of quality would enable researchers to create an evidence base for good working conditions, which could inform policy, support best practice and drive up quality within the sector.
To find out more about the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit visit www.pssru.ac.uk/ascot or for more information about this project, contact us on S.A.Hussein@kent.ac.uk.