Healthier Working Lives for over Fifties Working in Residential Care, 2022-2023

The collection consists of two data sets: ethnographic data and co-design data.

Ethnographic data: At the first point of contact, care home managers were approached via one researcher working for Scottish Care, who attended closed forum meetings and pitched the programme to wider audiences who had preestablished connections to Scottish Care. These conversations were later followed up with 1:1 calls with the research team to further explain the programme and answer any questions which the care home staff might have, as well as talking about the planned in-person ethnographic work. Through these personal conversations, the researchers were able to build rapport and trust with the managers prior to meeting up on site, and then continued to deepen these relationships during field visits. The researchers emphasised that they were there to listen and connect with the staff in their familiar working environments, and ensured that any promised actions (i.e. vouchers to thank staff for their time) would be followed up promptly.

The ‘deep hanging about’ approach was helpful for the fieldwork in multiple ways. Firstly, it often served as a conversation opener (i.e. being in a certain area in the home where staff would work, which made it easy to approach workers i.e. asking about the machines in the laundry room, the steep stairs leading to certain areas, etc). It also put the staff at ease when talking to us since they were in a familiar space. Some staff would spontaneously offer us tours of the home or take us around the gardens to show us some of the work they did with/for the residents, i.e. gardening, the social spaces and staff rooms where people would mingle, which in turn led to further conversations with new people as well as unique insights happening at short notice. In addition to notes, forty four interviews were undertaken. These are combined in data from each of the six homes.

CoDesign data from work undertaken in the same 6 residential homes: October 2022 to March 2023 workshops in the six care homes structured using the novel Ripple Framework to enable engagement in uncertain times. Total of 310 person engagement points; 6 homes x 7 participants x 5 activities = 210. Approximately 40 care workforce participants engaged over the two phases, representing diverse roles and experiences (domestic, key worker, carer, senior carer, manager, owner) as well as care sector leads (Scottish Care), and three start-up businesses.

Participants built confidence in voicing their experience, developed their creativity, and defined their own priorities for change at different levels – local workforce culture, organisational use of technology, and sector-wide training development, all with a view to maximising quality time staff are able to spend with residents, and raising the external validation of their profession (thereby satisfying value-driven motivation for the work).

Data collection centred on methods such as the Circle of Care; how this is defined and impacts on work cultures, and what ideas might be further developed to enhance retention, recruitment and wellbeing at work.