scholarly journals Social care mentorship and employee engagement in the transformation of the Social Care Workforce

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 267-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet McCray ◽  
Hazel Turner ◽  
Barbara Hall ◽  
Marie Price ◽  
Gill Constable

Purpose – This paper presents the findings of a small scale research project exploring mentorship programme participants experiences and learning about their managerial role in an adult social care service seeking to build management practice, resilience and well-being in the context of transformation. Design/methodology/approach – A case study of one public sector workforce development project is presented. The programme involved the use of an individual social care mentorship model and continuing professional development framework to support and engage 60 social care managers in the facilitation of workforce practice transformation. A small scale research study of 15 managers was undertaken. Participants provided a written reflective review and narrative of their individual experience and of learning. The narrative of a purposive sample of 15 managers was analysed using a work by Tamboukou and informed by a work byLabov and Waletzky as a guide. Findings – Thematic analysis of managers' reflective accounts, identified the adaption of coaching methods and the used of role modelling skills in the workplace. Emotional well being and resilience was maintained during the mentorship programme. Structural analysis emphasised sequences or messages in the narrative indicating manager's cooperation with the organisation in achieving its' transformational goals and gaining employee engagement. Research limitations/implications – This is a small scale study exploring one aspect of the project's goals. Practical implications – The project delivery and research findings will be of interest to other organisations considering the implementation of mentorship to support transformation and change. Originality/value – There are very few evaluations and research studies of social care mentorship in the literature and this paper and the case study presented provides interesting new insights into the process and its possible outcomes.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon J. Davenport

PurposeHealth and social care services should demonstrate the quality of their interventions for commissioners, patients and carers, plus it is a requirement for occupational therapists to measure and record outcomes. Use of the “Therapy Outcome Measure” (TOMs) standardised tool was implemented by an occupational therapy adult social care service to demonstrate outcomes from April 2020, following integration to a community NHS Trust.Design/methodology/approachThe aim was to demonstrate occupational therapy outcomes in adult social care through a local audit of the TOMs. The objective was to determine if clients improved following occupational therapy intervention in the four domains of impairment, activity, participation and wellbeing/carer wellbeing. 70 cases were purposively sampled over a 2-month timeframe, extracting data from the local electronic recording system.FindingsOccupational therapy in adult social care clearly makes an impact with their client group and carers. Evidence from the dataset demonstrates clinically significant change, as 93% of clients seen by adult social care occupational therapy staff showed an improvement in at least one TOMs domain during their whole episode of care. 79% of activity scores, 20% of participation scores and 50% of wellbeing scores improved following intervention. 79% of carer wellbeing scores improved following occupational therapy.Research limitations/implicationsThe audit did not collect data on uptake from the separate teams (equipment, housing, STAR and adult social care work) in occupational therapy adult social care. Potential sampling bias occurred as cases with completed scores only were purposively sampled. Sampling was not random which prevented data gathering on uptake of TOMs across the separate teams. Additionally, the audit results can only be applied to the setting from which the data was collected, so has limited external validity.Originality/valueThese novel findings illustrate the valuable and unique impact of occupational therapy in this adult social care setting. The integration of adult social care into an NHS Community Trust has supported the service to measure outcomes, by utilising the same standardised tool in use by allied health professions across the Trust.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamish Robertson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential value of applying spatial science and technology to the issue of care integration across what are the often fragmented domains of health and social care provision. The issue of focus for this purpose is population ageing because it challenges existing information and practice silos. Better integration, the author proposes, needs to adopt a geographic approach to deal with the challenges that population ageing present to health and social care as they currently function in many countries. Design/methodology/approach The approach utilised here explores the role that could be played by enhancing spatial perspectives in care integration. Spatial and temporal strategies need to be coordinated to produce systems of integrated care that are needed to meet the needs of growing numbers of older people. Findings The author’s premise is that, with some rare exceptions, geographies of care are needed to address important shifts in demography such as population ageing and their epidemiological consequences. The rising intersection between the ageing and disability concepts illustrates how the fluid nature of health and social care client groups will challenge existing systems and their presuppositions. Health and medical geography offer a theoretical and practical response to some of these emerging problems. Research limitations/implications This is a brief conceptual piece in favour of integrating geographic concepts and methods in the context of changing demography and the social, economic and service implications of such changes. It is limited in scope and a more detailed explanation would be required for a proof of concept. Practical implications Practically we know that all human services vary across space as do both healthcare and related social services and supports. Issues of quality and safety are numerous in these policy domains generally, with aged care evidencing a growing number of problems and challenges. Being able to inquire on significant challenges in health and social care through a spatial lens has the potential to provide another, highly practical, kind of evidence in this field of work. This lens is, the author contends, very poorly integrated into either health or social care at present. However, doing so would have a variety of useful outcomes for monitoring and intervening on real problems in care integration. An example could be “frequent flyers” in emergency departments as has been done in Camden, New Jersey through patient mapping. Social implications The author’s position in this paper is that the challenges we face in providing integrated care to ageing and increasingly disabled (including both physical and cognitive impairments) populations will only grow in the face of variable governmental responses and increasingly complex funding and service provider arrangements. Without a geographical perspective and the concepts and tools of spatial science the author does not see an adequate response emerging. The shift to community-based care for many groups, including the aged, means that location will become more important rather than less so. This is a societal concern of major proportions and the very concept of integrated care requires of us a geographical perspective. Originality/value This is a short but, the author believes, conceptually rich piece with a variety of potential practical implications for health and social care service provision. Issues of equity, quality, safety and even basic access can only grow as population ageing progresses and various forms of chronic disease and disability continue to grow. Knowing where the most affected people and their social and service connections are located will support better integration. And better integration may resolve some of the financial and related resource problems that are already evident but which can only continue to increase. In this context, the author suggests that the integrated care of the future needs to be geographically informed to be effective.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. 24-25
Author(s):  
Marta Lenart ◽  
Maria Mackowiak ◽  
Adrianna Senczyszyn ◽  
Dorota Szczesniak ◽  
Clarissa Giebel ◽  
...  

Background:Limited access to medical and social services during the coronavirus outbreak has contributed to the exclusion of vulnerable populations, such as people with dementia and older adults. These limitations and the resulting social isolation have highlighted the importance of social relationships and their relationship to the mental health of these people. In the context of dementia, ‘social health’ (SH) can be defined as the role of social abilities for achieving a dynamic balance between opportunities and limitations. The concept encompasses the capacity and independency of an individual to participate in social activities alongside the influences of the surrounding social network.Methods:Using a qualitative and quantitative approach, we will present social health and its determinants of people with dementia related to social care service closures and self-isolation during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We present an analysis of the survey data from the cross-country population- based study and the semi-structured telephone interviews with people with and without dementia from Poland, UK, Australia and Italy aged 65 and over.Results:Measuring the Social Health Index in relation to experiencing self-isolation and changes in the use of services before and during the pandemic among the people with dementia, allow us to identify the level of SH and its determinants. Also, the qualitative results revealed the indirect consequences of the pandemic-related restrictions in the access to social care service and social isolation. Reduction of social support was significantly related to deficits in social health and well-being.Conclusions:Our results highlight the emerging impact of health the current global epidemiological situation upon social health, with a particular focus on those affected by social disadvantage and isolation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 324-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan T. Robertson ◽  
Cary L. Cooper

PurposeBy introducing the concept of “full engagement,” this article aims to propose that employee engagement is more likely to be sustainable when employee well‐being is also high.Design/methodology/approachResearch evidence covering the separate concepts is reviewed and evidence of the benefits that both engagement and well‐being confer on organizations is presented.FindingsMost current perspectives on employee engagement include little of direct relevance to well‐being and reflect a narrow, commitment‐based view of engagement. This view focuses too heavily on benefits to organizations. A broader conception of engagement (referred to as “full engagement”), which includes employee well‐being, is a better basis for building sustainable benefits for individuals and organizations.Research limitations/implicationsResearch exploring the links between employee engagement and well‐being is needed to validate and develop the propositions put forward in this article.Practical implicationsA model for improving full engagement in organizations is presented and brief; case study illustrations are also given.Originality/valueThe integration of well‐being and commitment‐based engagement into the single construct of full engagement provides a novel perspective.


2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Wallace

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the quite extraordinary way the phenomena of mobile communication has gripped our society and the opportunities this provides for healthcare. Design/methodology/approach – It describes the ticking public health time bomb surrounding long term conditions and dementia and the need to radically overhaul how community services are delivered. It dissects the opportunities and challenges of providing a mobile health and social care service in the community and explores what a mobile moment means for these professionals. Findings – It stresses that the answer is NOT to simply provide an organisation’s IT back-office environment in the field and describes the concept of a dedicated organisation app platform tailored to meet this need. Originality/value – The paper concludes by reviewing recent evidence about the benefits and opportunities for health and social care organisations to embrace mobile working.


2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill Mumford

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to bring attention to the current level of engagement of care service provider organisations with shadow health and wellbeing boards. The paper argues that full engagement of provider organisations will improve the effective working of the future health and wellbeing boards; both in the creation of good commissioning strategies and in their subsequent implementation.Design/methodology/approachA survey of Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) members was undertaken, and analysed alongside other reports of progress in implementation.FindingsCurrently there is a very low level of engagement of provider organisations. A notable exception is in Coventry which is an exemplar for good engagement: a case study is provided.Originality/valueThis is new knowledge. Also, a connection is made between emerging government policy on market facilitation in social care and its implications for health and wellbeing boards.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 203-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Windebank ◽  
Ioana Alexandra Horodnic

Purpose France is a model of best practice in the European Union as regards policy to combat undeclared work. The purpose of this paper is to take the country as a case study to evaluate the competing explanations of why people engage in undeclared work which underpin such policy, namely, the dominant rational-economic-actor approach and the more recent social-actor approach. Design/methodology/approach To evaluate these approaches, the results of 1,027 interviews undertaken in 2013 with a representative sample of the French population are analysed. Findings The finding is that higher perceived penalties and risks of detection have no significant impact on the likelihood of conducting undeclared work in France. In contrast, the level of tax morale has a significant impact on engagement in the activity: the higher the tax morale, the lower is the likelihood of participation in the undeclared economy. Higher penalties and risks of detection only decrease the likelihood of participation in undeclared work amongst the small minority of the French population with very low tax morale. Practical implications Current policy in France to counter undeclared work is informed principally by the rational-economic-actor approach based on a highly developed infrastructure for detection and significant penalties alongside incentives to declare small-scale own-account work. The present analysis suggests that this approach needs to be supplemented with measures to improve citizens’ commitment to compliance by enhancing tax morale. Originality/value This case study of a country with a well-developed policy framework to combat undeclared work provides evidence to support the social-actor approach for informing policy change.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daryl Mahon

Purpose Practitioners, organisations and policy makers in health and social care settings are increasingly recognising the need for trauma-informed approaches in organisational settings, with morbidity and financial burdens a growing concern over the past few years. Servant leadership has a unique focus on emotional healing, service to others as the first priority, in addition to the growth, well-being and personal and professional development of key stakeholders. This paper aims to discuss Trauma Informed Servant Leadership (TISL). Design/methodology/approach A targeted review of the servant leadership and trauma-informed care literature was conducted. Relevant studies, including systematic review and meta-analysis, were sourced, with the resulting interpretation informing the conceptual model. Findings Although there are general guidelines regarding how to go about instituting trauma-informed approaches, with calls for organisational leadership to adapt the often cited six trauma-informed principles, to date there has not been a leadership approach elucidated which takes as its starting point and core feature to be trauma informed. At the same time, there is a paucity of research elucidating trauma outcomes for service users or employees in the literature when a trauma-informed approach is used. However, there is a large body of evidence indicating that servant leadership has many of the outcomes at the employee level that trauma-informed approaches are attempting to attain. Thus, the author builds on a previous conceptual paper in which a model of servant leadership and servant leadership supervision are proposed to mitigate against compassion fatigue and secondary trauma in the health and social care sector. The author extends that research to this paper by recasting servant leadership as a trauma-informed model of leadership that naturally operationalises trauma-informed principles. Research limitations/implications A lack of primary data limits the extent to which conclusions can be drawn on the effectiveness of this conceptual model. However, the model is based on robust research across the differential components used; therefore, it can act as a framework for future empirical research designs to be studies at the organisational level. Both the servant leadership and trauma-informed literatures have been extended with the addition of this model. Practical implications TISL can complement the trauma-informed approach and may also be viable as an alternative to trauma-informed approaches. This paper offers guidelines to practitioners and organisations in health and social care on how to operationalise important trauma-informed principles through leadership. Social implications This conceptual model may help reduce the burden of trauma and re-traumatisation encountered by practitioners and service users in health and social care settings, impacting on morbidity. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is a novel approach, the first of its kind.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinyun Duan ◽  
Macy Wong ◽  
Yumeng Yue

PurposeResearch examining the effect of helping on outcomes related to helpers has gained some mixed results. The purpose of this paper is to reconcile such inconsistency by understanding the multi-dimensional nature of helping behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first develop a helping behavior scale that differentiates between the proactive and reactive form of helping. Furthermore, the authors also examined whether these two forms of helping are differently related to employees’ well-being. Data were collected from 448 employees and their immediate supervisors working in different organizations in the South Jiangsu province, in which the authors examined the main relationship and also explored the mediating effect of meaningfulness.FindingsResults provided corroborating evidence that helping behavior was a multi-dimensional construct, consisting of proactive and reactive dimensions. Furthermore, the authors are also able to support discriminatory validity between these two dimensions by showing that they are differently related to employees’ well-being.Practical implicationsThis paper contributes to management practice by specifying the benefits and detriments of different kinds of helping behaviors.Originality/valueThe findings of this study do not only provide ideas to explain contradictions in the effect of helping behaviors on helpers themselves, but also deepens scholars’ knowledge and understanding toward helping behavior.


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