Outcomes in Social Care Assessments - an exploratory study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Outcomes in Social Care Assessments - an exploratory study
IRAS ID
222646
Contact name
Jon Symonds
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 30 days
Research summary
Having an assessment is one of the most important meetings in adult social care as it is the basis of deciding what care and support a person is likely to get. The Care Act has underlined the importance of the meeting, requiring that the assessment is person-centred and focused on the outcomes that the person wants to achieve. There is substantial guidance on conducting assessments based on research, but although practitioners and service users tend to agree on the principles of good practice, little research has been done on whether participants agree about whether good practice has been achieved. This study aims to investigate the extent to which practitioners, service users and carers agree on what made their assessment good practice (or not). It will collect comparable data from three key participants who have been involved in the same assessment.
In this study, the researcher will use a questionnaire to collect the views of practitioners, service users and carers about 15 assessment meetings conducted in one local authority. The questionnaire will collect similar information from each of their different perspectives about what was agreed in the assessment, how well the assessment went, and what skills the practitioner used.
Practitioners will be recruited from one English local authority and asked to introduce the study to service users when they are arranging an assessment. For those who express an interest, the practitioner will inform the researcher who will send further information and a consent form. If the service user (and carer, if they will be present) agree, the researcher will arrange to meet them (and the practitioner) after the assessment meeting to complete the questionnaire. The practitioner will be asked to complete the questionnaire afterwards, but separately. Data relating to 15 social care assessments will be collected in total.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
17/IEC08/0006
Date of REC Opinion
10 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion