The impact of social care services on carers’ quality of life

Abstract

Unpaid care is an important part of long-term care systems. It is increasingly recognised that carers have their own health and well-being needs. Carer-specific interventions, as well as support for the care-recipient, may enable carers to maintain their own health and well-being alongside caring. This study seeks to establish whether and how community-based care services affect carers’ quality of life. The Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit for Carers was used to capture carers’ social care-related quality of life through qualitative interviews and a survey of carers in England in order to provide insights into the impact of community-based care services on carers’ quality of life outcomes.

Measuring Carer Outcomes in an Economic Evaluation: A Content Comparison of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit for Carers, Carer Experience Scale, and Care-Related Quality of Life Using Exploratory Factor Analysis

“…31 Therefore, the quality-of-life attributes in the measure are deliberately broad, even if there are also aspects of quality of life that may be improved by formal care services. 32 This has important implications, as items that appear to be similar across the measures, such as ''control'', measure different underlying constructs. The CES measures ''control over the caring,'' whereas the ASCOT-Carer is concerned with ''control over daily life'', which may or may not be related to the caring situation.…”

Exploring the structural characteristics of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) and ASCOT-Carer

“…In previous studies, ASCOT measures have been used in qualitative interviews to identify how social care services impact on QoL of adults with care needs and carers 1,41,42 . This research provides insight into which care supports QoL; however, less attention has been given to relationships between QoL domains.…”

Social care‐related quality of life of people with dementia and their carers in England

“…In a study of carers in England, the way in which services have either positive, neutral or negative effects on carers’ SCRQoL has been described, with positive impacts related to a reduction of time spent on caregiving tasks, by encouraging carers to focus on self‐care, access support or reappraise their role or priorities and by alleviating subjective burden. Poor quality or inadequate care may lead to negative effects on carers’ QoL: for example, brief 15‐min home care visits, especially where care workers are rushed and do not have time to tidy away afterwards, may mean the carer has to provide additional support to compensate (Rand et al., 2020). This highlights the ideal practice of partnership working with formal carers to support the person with dementia [i.e.…”

“…In England, these services may be fully or partly funded by local authorities, or purchased privately. Even if services are ‘for’ PLWD, there is evidence of direct and indirect impact on carers’ QoL (Rand et al., 2020). There are also specialist services for carers, which promote and support carers’ QoL, provided by local voluntary organisations.…”

“…The Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (Netten et al., 2012) and the ASCOT‐Carer (Rand et al, 2015) are measures of SCRQoL for adults with support needs and their carers, respectively (see Table 1). ASCOT measures have also been used in the evaluation of social care interventions or policy (for example, Callaghan et al., 2017; Forder et al., 2012; Gridley et al., 2019; Whitehead et al., 2016), in understanding the effects of care on carers’ QoL (Rand & Malley, 2014; Rand et al., 2020) and in needs assessment (Johnstone & Page, 2013). They have also been translated and used internationally in evaluation, research and practice (for example, Nakamura‐Thomas et al., 2019; Nguyen et al., 2021; Trukeschitz et al., 2020; van Leeuwen et al., 2015; Yamaguchi & Rand, 2019).…”