Mapping Care Character to effective care
The PhD sought to establish criteria for effective performance of care workers, along with drivers of retention and attrition, in order to develop a strategy for the recruitment and selection of effective care workers.
Three research studies were undertaken including interviews with present and past care workers, developing and validating a performance measure to assess care worker performance and a longitudinal study of care worker effectiveness.
The main study included 357 performance assessments across 18 care providers within the following categories:
1) Day service for adults with learning disabilities
2) Residential care home
3) Residential care home for sensory impairment, physical disabilities and learning disabilities
Care worker performance measures:
The PhD examines in detail a number of areas identified as drivers of care worker performance by the research. Some of the examples:
- Communication with service users—good verbal and non-verbal skills
- Encourage—a good care worker is encouraging in their nature
- Compassion—Considered an essential element in care worker performance
- Passion—no use a worker simply seeing it as just a job.
- Timely / follows procedures/ good at record keeping
- Independence—promotes and maintains the independence of the person supported.
- Demonstrates respect towards persons supported and upholds their dignity.
- Flexible/ helpful/ puts others first
Competencies Extracted
We took the personality elements of the themes identified by the PhD and mapped them to the Traits Online platform as 15 competencies
- Gregariousness
- Affiliation
- Care
- Empathy
- Preparation
- Industriousness
- Co-operation
- Prosocial
- Cultural openness
- Empathy
- Contentment
- Calmness
- Positivity
- Planfulness
- Detail Attentiveness
Request a copy of the PhD Executive Summary