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Research Interests
James is a Senior Research Fellow at the PSSRU, University of Kent. Since joining in 2007 James has worked on a multitude of research projects, primarily funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. These have included the evaluation of policy initiatives (e.g. the Better Fund and Personal Health Budgets).
James is currently a co-investigator in the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Quality, Safety and Outcomes Policy Research Unit (QSO). The QSO is a collaboration between the Universities of Kent and Oxford, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the Picker Institute and Hull-York Medical School. Its primary purpose is to produce robust, relevant, and usable research aimed at improving the quality and outcomes of the health and social care system. He is also working in the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Adult Social Care (ASCRU) which is led by Dr. José-Luis Fernandez at the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC), London School of Economics.
James is a member of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) team (www.pssru.ac.uk/ascot) an outcomes measure used internationally in research and evaluation to inform long-term care policy and practice. He has been involved in the translation and cross validation of ASCOT into German and Japanese, and the development of adapted measures (ASCOT-ER, ASCOT-Proxy and ASCOT-ER (OP)).
James’ main research interests are centred around the integration of health and social care, measuring the impact of social care, and the development of adapted outcome measures for people with cognitive and communication difficulties. Recently he has led work developing evaluation methods and identifying outcomes for strengths-based approaches in social work.
James Caiels' Publications
Journal Articles
Journal Article
Understanding how users of home-based aged care services with cognitive impairment rate their social care related quality of life (2025)
Caiels J
25, Article Number: 12 (2025)
BMC Geriatrics
Read moreJournal Article
New Ways of Working to Manage and Improve Quality in Integrated Care Systems in England (2025)
Caiels J
14, 1, 1-10
International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Read moreJournal Article
Enhancing quality of life measurement: adapting the ASCOT easy read for older adults accessing social care.
Quality of Life Research
(2024)Caiels J, Rand S, Mikelyte R
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Journal Article
Assessing progress in managing and improving quality in nascent integrated care systems in England (2023)
Mirza Lalani, Priya Sugavanam, James Caiels, Helen Crocker, Sarah Gunn, Harriet Hay, Helen Hogan, Bethan Page, Michele Peters, Raymond Fitzpatrick
Journal of Health Services Research & Policy , 29, 122-133
Read moreJournal Article
Strengths-based approaches - perspectives from practitioners (2023)
Caiels, J., Silarova, B., Milne, A., Beadle-Brown, J.
British Journal of Social Work , 00, 1-21
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Supporting the involvement of older adults with complex needs in evaluation of outcomes in long-term care at home programmes. (2022)
Phillipson, L., Towers, A., Caiels, J., Smith, L
Health Expectations An International Journal of Public Participation In Health Care and Health Policy , 1-11
Read moreJournal Article
Personal health budgets: a mechanism to encourage service integration? (2022)
Welch, E., Jones, K., Fox, D. and Caiels, J.
Journal of Integrated Care 3, 30, 251-262
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The Development of a Core Outcome Set for Trials and Evaluative Studies in Adult Social Care. Journal of Long-Term Care (2021)
Sugavanam, T., Caiels, J., Peters, M., Fitzpatrick, R
Journal of Long-Term Care , 438-445
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Strengths-Based Approaches in Social Work and Social Care: Reviewing the Evidence (2021)
Caiels, J., Milne, A., Beadle-Brown, J.
Journal of Long-Term Care , 401-422
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Challenges in integrating health and social care: the Better Care Fund in England. (2020)
Harlock J., Caiels J., Marczak J., Peters M., Fitzpatrick R., Wistow G., Forder J., Jones K
Journal of Health Services Research & Policy 25, 2, 86-93
Read moreJournal Article
Feasibility, factor structure and construct validity of the easy-read Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT-ER) (2020)
Rand S, Towers A, Razik K, Turnpenny A, Bradshaw J, Caiels J, Smith N,
Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability 45, 2, 119-132
Taylor & Francis Online
Read moreJournal Article
A cohesive research approach to assess care-related quality of life: Lessons learned from adapting an easy read survey with older service users with cognitive impairment. (2019)
Phillipson, L., Smith, L., Caiels, J., Towers, A., & Jenkins, S
International Journal of Qualitative Methods 18
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Exploring the views of being a proxy from the perspective of unpaid carers and paid carers: Developing a proxy version of the adult social care outcomes toolkit (ASCOT). (2019)
Caiels, J., Rand, S., Crowther, T., Collins, G., & Forder, J
BMC Health Services Research, 19, 1, 201-019-4025-1
Read moreJournal Article
Letter to the Editor re: McEwan et al (2019) Moving on from Quality Assurance: Exploring Systems — Outcomes in Disability Services (2019)
Stacey Rand, Ann Marie Towers, James Caiels
Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities
Read moreJournal Article
Exploring the views of being a proxy from the perspective of unpaid carers and paid carers: developing a proxy version of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) (2019)
Caiels J, Rand S, Crowther T, Collins G, Forder J,
Springer Nature
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Developing a proxy-report version of the Adult Social Care Outcome Toolkit (ASCOT) (2017)
Rand S, Caiels J, Collins G, Forder J
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes , 15:108
Read moreJournal Article
Developing an Easy Read version of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) (2016)
Turnpenny A, Caiels J, Crowther T, Richardson L, Whelton R, Beadle-Brown J, Rand S
Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities
Read moreJournal Article
Implementing personal health budgets in England: a user-led approach to substance misuse (2016)
Welch E, Jones K, Caiels J, Windle K, Bass R
Health and Social Care in the Community
Read moreJournal Article
Personalization in the health care system: do personal health budgets impact on outcomes and cost (2013)
Jones K, Forder J, Caiels J, Welch E, Glendinning C, Windle K
Journal of Health Services Research and Policy 18, 2 suppl, 59-67
Read moreJournal Article
Measuring the outcomes of long-term care (2011)
Forder J, Caiels J
Social Science and Medicine 73, 12, 1766-1774
Read moreBook Sections
Book Section
Personal health budgets: implementation and outcomes (2016)
Jones K, Forder J, Caiels J, Welch E, Windle K
Policy Press
Read moreReports
Report
Personal health budgets: Targeting of support and the service provider landscape (2018)
Jones K, Welch E, Fox D, Caiels J, Forder J
Read moreReport
Personal Health Budgets: Implementation following the national pilot programme; overall project summary (2018)
Jones K, Welch E, Fox D, Caiels J, Forder J
Read moreReport
A system-level evaluation of the Better Care Fund: Final Report (2018)
Forder J, Caiels J, Harlock J, Wistow G, Malisauskaite G, Peters M, Marczak J, D'Amico F, Fernández J-L, Fitzpatrick R, Jones K
Read moreReport
Personal Health Budgets: Process and context following the national pilot programme (2017)
Jones K, Forder J, Welch E, Caiels J, Fox D
Read moreReport
Making the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit Easy Read (2015)
Whelton R, Turnpenny A, Caiels J, Crowther T, Richardson L, Beadle-Brown J, Apps J, Rand S
QORU working paper
Read moreReport
Developing an Easy Read version of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) - Appendix (2015)
Turnpenny A, Caiels J, Crowther T, Richardson L, Whelton R, Beadle-Brown J, Apps J, Rand S
QORU working paper
Read moreReport
Developing an Easy Read version of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) (2015)
Turnpenny A, Caiels J, Crowther T, Richardson L, Whelton R, Beadle-Brown J, Apps J, Rand S
QORU working paper
Read moreReport
Implementing personal health budgets within substance misuse services (2013)
Welch E, Caiels J, Bass R, Jones K, Forder J, Windle K
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2858, University of Kent
Read moreReport
The cost of implementing personal health budgets (2011)
Jones K, Forder J, Caiels J, Welch E, Windle K, Davidson, Dolan P, Glendinning C, Irvine A, King D
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2804, University of Kent
Read moreReport
Early experiences of implementing personal health budgets (2010)
Jones K, Caiels J, Forder J, Windle K, Welch E, Dolan P, Glendinning C, King D
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2726/2, University of Kent and London School of Economics
Read moreProject Outlines
Project Outline
Evaluation of the Personal Health Budgets Pilot (PSSRU Project Outline 91) (2010)
Jones K, Caiels J, Forder J, Windle, K
Read moreProject Outline
Quality Measurement Framework programme. PSSRU Project Outline 67 (2007)
Forder J, Caiels J
Read moreResearch Summaries
Research Summary
Perspectives on strengths-based approaches: social workers, commissioners and managers - Plain English summary of research findings (2022)
J Caiels, B Silarova, A Milne, J Beadle-Brown
Read moreDP or working papers
DP or working paper
Perspectives on strengths-based approaches: social workers, commissioners and managers (2022)
J Caiels, B Silarova, A Milne, J Beadle-Brown
Read moreDP or working paper
Taking a strengths-based approach to social work and social care: A literature review (2021)
Caiels J, Milne A, Beadle-Brown J
Read moreDP or working paper
ASCOT Easy Read: usability evaluation of an electronic adaptation (2019)
Razik K, Turnpenny A, Bradshaw J, Rand S, Towers A, Caiels J, Smith N
QORU working paper 2953
Read moreDP or working paper
Factor structure and construct validity of the easy-read Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT-ER) (2017)
Rand S, Towers A, Razik K, Turnpenny A, Bradshaw J, Caiels J, Smith N
Read moreDP or working paper
How can MAX help local authorities to use social care data to inform local policy? Maximising the value of survey data in adult social care [MAX] project. Executive Summary (2015)
Heath C, Malley J, Razik K, Jones K, Forder J, Fox D, Caiels J, Beecham J
Read moreDP or working paper
Using Proxies to assess Quality of Life: A Review of the Issues and Challenges (2015)
Rand S, Caiels J
Read moreDP or working paper
How can MAX help local authorities to use social care data to inform local policy? (Infographic) (2015)
Al-Tahhan, Nat
Read moreDP or working paper
How can MAX help local authorities to use social care data to inform local policy? (Executive summary) (2015)
Heath C, Malley J, Razik K, Jones K, Forder J, Fox D, Caiels J, Beecham J
Read moreDP or working paper
How can MAX help local authorities to use social care data to inform local policy? Maximising the value of survey data in adult social care [MAX] project (2015)
Heath C, Malley J, Razik K, Jones K, Forder J, Fox D, Caiels J, Beecham J
Read moreDP or working paper
ASCOT Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit: Main Guidance v2.1 (2011)
Netten A, Beadle-Brown J, Caiels J, Forder J, Malley J, Smith N, Towers A, Trukeschitz B, Welch E, Windle K
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2716/3, University of Kent
Read moreDP or working paper
Development Studies for the National Adult Social Care User Experience Survey: Technical Report (2010)
Caiels J, Fox D, McCarthy M, Smith N, Malley J, Beadle-Brown J, Netten A, Towers A
Read moreDP or working paper
A Report on the Development Studies for the National Social Care User Experience Survey (2010)
Malley J, Caiels J, Fox D, McCarthy M, Smith N, Beadle-Brown J, Netten A, Towers A
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2721, University of Kent
Read moreDP or working paper
Measuring Outcomes of Information and Advice Services: Final Report (2010)
Windle K, Caiels J, Welch E, Netten A, Masrani R, Welch E, Forder J
Read moreDP or working paper
Measuring the Outcomes of Low-level Services: Final Report (2010)
Caiels J, Forder J, Malley J, Netten A, Windle K
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2699, University of Kent
Read moreDP or working paper
Measuring Outcomes in Social Care: Second Interim Report (2008)
Forder J, Towers A, Caiels J, Beadle-Brown J, Netten A
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2542, University of Kent
Read moreDP or working paper
Measuring Outcomes in Social Care: Conceptual Development and Empirical Design. Quality Measurement Framework Project. PSSRU interim report (2007)
Forder J, Netten A, Caiels J, Smith J, Malley J
PSSRU Discussion Paper 2422, University of Kent
Read moreConference presentation outputs
Conference presentation output
Personalisation and Prevention in England (2011)
Welch E, Caiels J
Boston, USA
Read moreConference presentation output
Personalisation and Prevention in England (2011)
Welch E, Caiels J
Read moreConference presentation output
Personalisation and Prevention in England (2011)
Welch E, Caiels J,
Symposium at Social Policy Association
Read moreManuscripts
Manuscript
Implementing personal health budgets: Opportunities and challenges for the NHS (2016)
Jones K, Caiels J, Welch E, Windle K, Forder J, Glendinning C, King D
Read moreBlogs
Blog
Meeting local information needs with ASCS and PSS SACE data (Blog) (2015)
Heath C, Malley J, Razik K, Jones K, Forder J, Caiels J, Beecham J
Read moreUnallocateds
Unallocated
Letter to the Editor re: McEwan et al (2019) Moving on from Quality Assurance: Exploring Systems — Outcomes in Disability Services (2020)
Rand S, Towers A-M, Caiels J
Read more