Social Care resources
Social Care is a term that generally describes all forms of personal care and other practical assistance for children, young people and adults who need extra support. Social care involves a huge range of services designed to support people in maintaining their independence.
The NIHR is very invested in improving the evidence base for adult social care in England.
Below are some resources which provide knowledge about research in social care and social care settings.
Essential Learning
The NIHR have created a resource to highlight the differences between Clinical Health research, Social care research and Public health research. The resource has been developed using flashcards to help improve your basic understanding and structured to make you aware of key approaches and components in each area of research.
Recommended Learning
Social Care is a complex setting complex setting likely to involve vulnerable individuals who may lack capacity to consent - you must make sure you are comfortable with assessing capacity and consenting adults that lack capacity.
Introduction to Adult Social Care
This resource sits on NIHR Learn and aims to develop your awareness of the adult social care sector. Specifically:
How social care relates to broader health services delivery
Current and future trends that impact adult social care
The range of services adult social care addresses
How publicly funded social care is funded
Who is involved in adult social care delivery
This course is aimed at the Adult Social Care Setting to introduce research however, it has some useful information about the setting and its priorities.
If you would like to understand why research is important, the legislation and frameworks surrounding research and also who is involved in research in adult social care settings, this course will support you. There is also a live interactive module which will bring the theory and practice together and help you to understand the practicalities of delivering research in adult social care settings.
This resource aims to develop your understanding of how the NIHR supports social care research. It covers the following topics:
What is social care research
Who undertakes social care research
Why social care research is important
The different ways NIHR supports social care research
Out of Interest Learning
NIHR School for Social Care Research
The NIHR are improving the evidence base for adult social care in England. You will find information on the School for Social Care Research highlights and recent findings which can help you to engage and inform social care services of research which is happening in your area. There is also news regarding funding and opportunities to make more research happen in social care and current tweets referring to social care research
The Kings Fund have pulled together a range of content to help explain social care in England, including a series of short videos on what social care is, how it’s provided and paid for, and how it works with the NHS and other services. We recommend you to explore the site further to gain more of an understanding about what social care is.
This site gives a very useful breakdown of what adult social care is, how the local authorities are involved, details of the government long term plan with adult social care and importantly where adult social care takes place.
Top tips;
You need to be aware social care settings may be risk averse and you may need to be ready to provide reassurance.
You will need a clear offer with lots of support regarding involvement in research.
There is limited or no research infrastructure within social care providers and the turnover of staff and financial constraints can pose a challenge.
Work with the setting to agree a communication plan, communication should be regular as priorities can change quickly so staying on the agenda is key to success.
This is a link to further resources in the awesome table