Enhancing Person-centredness In the Community support of older people (EPIC)

Social care is facing a recruitment and retention crisis. To meet future workforce needs, new workers are needed from outside the sector. Since social care is heavily values-based, new strategies must accommodate the need for selecting workers with the right instincts for care.

Traditional interviews rely heavily on subjective judgements and ‘impressions’, which are helpful but also susceptible to bias. Our research shows that Situational Judgement Tests are a promising tool to use alongside interviewing and other recruitment tools.

This study was funded jointly with The Abbeyfield Research Foundation. 

• Aims

  The study aimed to design a suite of SJTs that evaluate knowledge and appraisal of person-centred attitudes and behaviours in the community social care of older people, and to empirically assess their quality and usefulness to the sector. 

• Methods

  This study involved a three-stage mixed methods design:

  1. Design the SJTs by identifying through in-depth qualitative interviews candidate ‘critical incidents’ that describe practice-based challenging scenarios in which good (and bad) person-centred care can be exemplified. Possible responses to the critical incidents will be drafted, each reflecting different degrees of person-centredness. A scoring rubric will be formed through an online panel of Subject Matter Experts.
  2. Test the SJTs in a sample of up to 200 care workers through an online exercise.
  3. Assess the value and limitations of SJTs through focus groups with care workers, their employers, skill development stakeholders and service users/carers.

   

• Findings

  EPIC project findings

  Our research shows that Situational Judgement Tests are a promising tool to use alongside interviewing and other recruitment tools. They are acceptable to potential test-takers, and care workers say they offer a credible representation of care work.

  Those who take the tests report an improved impression of the skills needed for care work. Importantly, the SJTs have encouraging evidence of reliability and validity. These SJTs perform well against psychometric benchmarks, including test-retest reliability, and are correlated with personality traits in accordance with expectations.

  The SJT uses a scoring system devised by experts by experience (older people and people living with dementia), giving confidence that user priorities can be brought to bear on recruitment and retention.

  These SJTs can now be used within the sector, and a web-based platform – Curious about Care – has been prepared in partnership with Skills for Care.

  Access the free SJTs and a suite of animations at: curiousaboutcare.org.uk 

• Resources and publications

  Access the free SJTs and a suite of animations at: curiousaboutcare.org.uk

  Implementation magazine for care providers 

  Animations 

  Curious about Care – How to Guide

  Curious about Care – Evaluation Infographic

  Recruiting a Person-Centered Direct Care Workforce Through Situational Judgement Tests: A Pilot Study in the Community Support of Older People in England – Article (Innovation in Aging – Gerontological Society of America)

  Promoting person-centred care in the home support of older people through situational judgement tests: a feasibility study – Article (Bristol University Press)