Supporting care transitions for older people: a practice-based qualitative study in England

Supporting care transitions for older people: a practice-based qualitative study in England | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Supporting care transitions for older people: a practice-based qualitative study in England Wenjing Zhang, Julia Greig, Ann-Marie Towers, Eirini-Christina Saloniki, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5200234/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 08 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in The British Journal of Social Work → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Care transitions in later life are challenging for older people and their carers. Social care practitioners, including social workers and other professionals, play a significant role in supporting these transitions, such as hospital discharges to care homes and moves between settings, but often face difficulties in providing effective support. This qualitative study explores the challenges experienced by older people, their carers and social care practitioners during transitions, and examines ways to improve transition-related practice. It involved semi-structured interviews with older people who have experienced or are planning to move (n = 6), family/friend carers (n = 11) and social care practitioners (n = 10). Using inductive data-driven thematic analysis, the study identified four themes: (1) unmet practical and emotional needs for older people and their carers, notably in decision-making; (2) barriers to effective practice, including communication, sourcing funding, and system challenges, such as a fragmented health and social care system; (3) strategies to improve practice, including person-centred strength-focused approaches, better communication and information access, and understanding diverse care settings; and (4) the importance of supporting practitioners. This study emphasises the need to equip social care practitioners with necessary tools, training, and systemic support to facilitate proactive decision-making, improve care transitions and outcomes for older people. Social Policy Social Work Geriatrics & Gerontology co-production elderly long-term care practice professional transition Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 08 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in The British Journal of Social Work → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5200234","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":362025766,"identity":"385ad59f-ffd8-4352-8706-097ba9aa21d2","order_by":0,"name":"Wenjing 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Social care practitioners, including social workers and other professionals, play a significant role in supporting these transitions, such as hospital discharges to care homes and moves between settings, but often face difficulties in providing effective support. This qualitative study explores the challenges experienced by older people, their carers and social care practitioners during transitions, and examines ways to improve transition-related practice. It involved semi-structured interviews with older people who have experienced or are planning to move (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;6), family/friend carers (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;11) and social care practitioners (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;10). 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