A Scoping Review Investigating the International Economic Evidence to Inform the Development of a Career Pathway for...

The aim of this scoping review is to explore the international evidence to identify the potential costs and gains of the development of a career pathway for Health Support Worker's (HSW's), the economic gains and benefits connected with continual professional development (CPD) and value for money.

Scoping review following JBI methodology was conducted of peer-reviewed international literature using structured searches of electronic databases and grey literature (September 2013-November 2023) applying economic methodological terms to capture economic evidence and perspectives on the issues.

Seventeen papers were critically appraised and during the process of data extraction four key themes emerged: 1) Cost-benefits of employment and training 2) Organisational economic perspectives 3) Service economic perspectives and 4) Sector economic perspectives. This scoping review revealed a scarcity of economic evidence contributing to critical educational approaches, costs and benefits in development of career pathways for HSWs.

Limited evidence was available on benefits of specific training programmes, and considerable gaps in the evidence to inform future investment. Recommendation is that future research should incorporate economic theory within evaluations to inform policy and practice.