Background
Care work is characterised by unfavourable working conditions, including poor wages, insecure contracts and increasingly fragmented working arrangements. A significant number of workers leave their jobs every year and levels of stress and burnout are concerning. While there are some scales to measure well-being at work, they do not examine the impact of care work on workers’ own quality of life, which seems critical to workers’ wellbeing and motivation.
Objectives To identify the domains of quality of life most affected by care work in the social care sector. Specifically:
- Review and appraise current wellbeing at work scales that are relevant to social care work.
- Identify key domains necessary to develop a care work-related quality of life tool that is specific to the adult social care workforce in England.
- Identify potential ‘at work’ support mechanisms likely to improve care staff wellbeing.
Methods A multi-method study, using deductive and inductive approaches, was undertaken:
- A systematic review of published studies and assessment scales of care staff wellbeing (drawing on formal and family carer quality of life measures) and organisational support mechanisms to enhance wellbeing at work.
- Interviews (n=16), focus groups (3 groups with n=11 participants) and written responses (n=2) to gather the views of frontline care workers (n=10), managers (n=7) and key social care stakeholders and policymakers (n=12) and explore the utility of a care work-related quality of life scale.
- An online survey (n=35) to explore the content validity of the proposed domains and items and reach a consensus of what would be important to include.
Key Findings
We identified the domains and subdomains of a scale specific to the context of social care work in England to include seven domains with 23 sub-domains. Three factors (organisational features, nature of care work, recognition of care work) impact three elements of WRQoL (financial, mental, physical) and impact the workers’ lives through a process of work-life spillover.
Outputs, Impact and Dissemination
Two peer-reviewed manuscripts have been submitted (one accepted and the other waiting) and two more are under preparation, we have also contributed to one international conference. To support wider impact, a ‘Practice Guide’ summarising the findings and making recommendations to the sector on ways to improve care worker quality of life, is being co-produced with our lay research advisors and sector representatives.
Conclusion
Some of the domains/subdomains of the proposed scale intersect with existing WRQoL scales, while others are specific to the context of social care. Previous scales did not recognise the importance of financial wellbeing, which was one of the most important domains as identified by the participants in this study.
Future Plans
To disseminate the findings including the guide and to seek further funding to complete the development of the scale