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Background: The ASCOT-ER is an adapted easy-read version of the ASCOT-SCT4, a self-report measure of social care-related quality of life (SCRQoL) for social care evaluation. In this study, we investigated the instrument's feasibility, construct validity and factor structure. Method: Data were collected from 264 service users in England. Feasibility was evaluated by missing data and help to complete the questionnaire. Scale dimensionality was assessed using exploratory factor analysis. Construct validity was evaluated by hypothesis testing. Results: Convergent validity was supported by moderate to strong correlations between ASCOT-ER and personal wellbeing and overall quality of life, as well as with individual characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the ASCOT-ER is a unidimensional scale. Low missingness indicates that the instrument is feasible; however, most respondents needed some level of support to complete the questionnaire. Conclusion: The study provides preliminary evidence of the ASCOT-ER's feasibility, unidimensionality and construct validity.

Background: People with dementia living at home represent a growing group of social care services users in England. Many are unable to complete questionnaires due to cognitive impairment. The ASCOT-Proxy is an adapted version of an established measure, ASCOT, which was developed as a way of collecting social care-related quality of life (SCRQoL) data from this group of service users, either alone or alongside the ASCOT-Carer, a measure of SCRQoL for unpaid carers. The ASCOT-Proxy includes two perspectives, the proxy-proxy perspective ('My opinion: What I think') and proxy-person perspective ('What I think the person I represent thinks'). We aimed to establish the feasibility, construct validity and reliability of the ASCOT-Proxy and ASCOT-Carer, with unpaid carers of people with dementia living at home unable to self-report. We also aimed to establish structural characteristics of the ASCOT-Proxy. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected using self-administered questionnaire (paper or online) among unpaid carers living in England between January 2020 and April 2021. Unpaid carers could take part if they supported someone living with dementia who was unable to self-complete a structured questionnaire. The person living with dementia or their unpaid carer had to use at least one social care service. We used the proportion of missing data to establish feasibility, ordinal exploratory factor analysis to establish structural characteristics, Zumbo's ordinal alpha for internal reliability, and hypothesis testing for construct validity. We also conducted Rasch analysis. Results: We analysed data for 313 carers (62.4(± 12.0) years, 75.7% (N=237) females). We were able to calculate the ASCOT-Proxy-proxy overall score for 90.7% of our sample, the ASCOT-Proxy-person overall score for 88.8% of our sample and in case of the ASCOT-Carer for 99.7% of our sample. As there was an issue with structural characteristics of the ASCOT-Proxy-proxy we conducted Rasch, reliability and construct validity analysis for the ASCOT-Proxy-person and ASCOT-Carer only. Conclusions: This was a first study to explore psychometric characteristics of the ASCOT-Proxy and ASCOT-Carer with unpaid carers of people with dementia living at home unable to self-report. There are some aspects of the psychometric characteristics of the ASCOT-Proxy and ASCOT-Carer that warrant further investigation in future. Trial registration NA [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with dementia and their carers are a growing subgroup of people who use community‐based social care. These services are designed to maintain people's quality of life while living at home. The ASCOT measure of social care‐related quality of life (SCRQoL), designed to evaluate quality and effectiveness of social care, has been adapted for proxy‐report when someone is unable to self‐report. The ASCOT‐Carer has been developed to measure carer's own SCRQoL. This study sought to establish the factors related to SCRQoL of people living with dementia (PLWD, proxy‐reported by carers) and their carers. Data were collected via a self‐administered postal or online survey of 313 carers in England, from January 2020 to April 2021. Carers were eligible if they supported someone living with dementia at home, who was unable to self‐complete questionnaires. The person living with dementia or their carer had to use at least one social care service, e.g. home care. We recruited participants via an online volunteer panel and NHS sites. Multiple regression was applied to explore the factors significantly related to ASCOT SCRQoL by self‐ and proxy‐report. Key influences on carers' own SCRQoL were their health, financial difficulties associated with caring, and satisfaction with social care support. Inadequate home design was significantly negatively associated with SCRQoL for PLWD. The latter stages of the pandemic‐related restrictions (the tier system from 2nd December 2020 to study end, April 2021) were associated with significantly worse SCRQoL for PLWD, but not for carers. The study offers insight into the factors associated with SCRQoL. In particular, the findings highlight the importance of adequate home design for people with dementia; satisfactory social care support and limiting any adverse financial impact of caring are important for carers. The findings indicate a negative effect of COVID restrictions on SCRQoL of people with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study estimates the prevalence of unmet social care needs of people over 50 living in England with cancer and the effect of cancer on unmet needs.Methods: We used data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We estimated the mean, standard deviation and 95% CI of the prevalence of unmet social care needs among people with cancer. Logistic regression analysis with individual random effects was used to estimate the effect of cancer on unmet needs controlling for other determinants. Pain measures were included stepwise in the regression to estimate their mediating effect.Results: The prevalence rate of unmet social care needs among people living with cancer is 9% (SD = 0.29; 95% CI: 8.3-10) compared to 6% (SD = 0.24; 95% CI: 6.1-6.5) among people without cancer. People with cancer have significantly higher odds of having unmet needs by a factor of 1.44 (95% CI: 1.20-1.72), after controlling for the effect of other characteristics. Adding pain measures reduces the effect of cancer to a factor of 1.36 (95% CI: 1.14-1.64) in the odds of unmet needs but still remains statistically significant.Conclusions: A more integrated approach to cancer care is more likely to address the high level of unmet needs and consequent adverse implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]