Identifying Regional Stakeholder-Informed Priorities for Adult Social Care Research: A Mixed-Method Study in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex

Context: There is an urgent need for sustainable change in the social care sector, and research plays an essential role in the identification of priority areas. Thus far, there have been few priority setting exercises within adult social care research. The current study explores regional priorities for adult social care research in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. Stakeholders were consulted from the starting point of the project, ensuring that the identified research priorities were fully informed by the people that the subsequent research will have an impact on. Objectives: Our main aim was to identify research priorities for adult social care within the region, and more specifically, relevant activities within these priority areas that could benefit from evaluation. Methods: We employed a mixed-method design using online focus groups with social care professionals (N = 37) and members of the public (N = 7), and an online survey following the focus groups (N = 28). Focus group discussions were informed by themes based on The Care Act 2014. Findings: Content analysis was used to analyse discussions, which yielded a list of 46 actionable research questions. Rankings of discussion themes were produced to establish order of importance. Limitations: We approached the ranking of priorities only at a higher-order theme level, and not at the level of the specific questions. Implications: The extensive list of research questions produced in this study supports social care researchers to conduct studies that address pressing issues for care systems and the public.