Professor Ann-Marie Towers from Kent’s Centre for Health Service Studies (CHSS) is the academic lead in the development of a new government survey which will assess the work-related quality of life of the adult social care workforce – the first of its kind.
Together with Skills for Care and market research leader Ipsos, colleagues from Kent’s research centres, CHSS and PSSRU, will collect data directly from the adult social care workforce during summer 2023 and summer 2024, to better understand the experience of employees.
Building on the success of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT), which measures the care-related quality of life of people using adult social care and their unpaid carers, the survey will include questions that aim to measure work-related quality of life in an adult social care context. Altogether, a sample of around 3000 workers in care-providing roles, regulated professionals, and registered managers will be included.
The survey will contribute to a better understanding of how factors such as working conditions, organisational characteristics and workplace culture affect work-related quality of life and wellbeing, providing the team with valuable insights to help investigate the links between these factors and workforce retention.
Professor Towers said: ‘The COVID-19 pandemic increased the visibility and profile of the social care workforce, yet funding and working conditions within the sector remain poor compared to health. We welcome government commitment to invest in the workforce and assess the impact of social care work on the quality of life of the workforce, with colleagues at IPSOS MORI and Skills for Care.’