Supporting ex-service personnel moving to social care work with older people: a systematic rapid review of the role of education

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review evidence about the role of education in supporting ex-service personnel to move to social care work with older people. Social care has long-standing, well-recognised problems of staff recruitment and retention in many jurisdictions. Within ageing societies, the need for more social care staff is predicted to rise. Therefore, policy makers and employers are exploring if there are untapped sources of potential employees. Some ex-service personnel may be interested in exploring a move to social care work with older people but may need to gain additional qualifications. Design/methodology/approach Databases and grey literature were searched systematically to provide an overview of the evidence on this topic. Six articles were included in the review. Findings A narrative analysis revealed two themes: preparing ex-service personnel for enrolment onto health and social care programmes, and supporting ex-service personnel during health and social care programmes. Research limitations/implications This review was confined to English language studies published between 2008 and 2018. Few mentioned specific user or client groups. Originality/value This review identified evidence gaps relating to whether the skills, education, training and experience gained in the armed services are transferable to civilian social care work with older people; the types of support which are offered to ex-service personnel who are interested in completing qualifications necessary for social care roles and the views of ex-service personnel about their experiences of completing educational courses to facilitate a transition into social care work with older people.

Barriers and facilitators to ex-service personnel obtaining employment within social care roles with older people: a scoping review

“…In addition to national campaigns, there is scope to explore the potential for accessing untapped sources of potential employees in social care. For example, men are underrepresented within the frontline social care workforce – comprising only 18% of the workforce (Andalo, 2019) and there also may be opportunities for former prisoners or ex-offenders (Bramley et al , 2019; Norrie et al , 2020) and people leaving the armed forces to enter the health and social care workforce (Manthorpe and Bramley, 2019). Furthermore, it may be that underrepresented groups within the health and social care workforce may enrol for new initiatives being created in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic.…”