Who can use CAIRO

This page explains who is permitted to use CAIRO and who will gain most from it.

Teams that provide human services. Health and social care providers support individuals, families and communities, and CAIRO helps these teams think through how they are managing risk whilst supporting opportunities.

Teams that have some control. CAIRO is relevant to teams that have some discretion about what they do, so that the culture of the team can have an impact on whether the people they support get a great life or a narrowed one.

Not just ‘low risk’ people. Forensic services sometimes work with people who are denied opportunities to leave the building, but the team climate will still affect the extent to which they support the residents to enjoy as full a life as possible.

Staff that work together. CAIRO is about the climate of the team, so this assumes that people have a sense of how things are done round here and each staff member who completes the questionnaire has a feeling for the general culture of the team. So ‘teams’ that rarely see one another and where each member works on their own all day will not benefit so much from CAIRO. Visiting staff, who occasionally consult to the team and belong elsewhere do not usually complete the CAIRO questionnaire.

Geography. Until now, CAIRO has been completed by teams working in health and social care in the United Kingdom. We do not yet have evidence to say that team culture is measurably different in other advanced democracies or elsewhere in the world. Users will need to consider this matter when they interpret their results.

Age and diagnosis. CAIRO has largely been used in services designed for adults with learning disabilities and adults with mental health needs, but there is no reason that it cannot be used elsewhere. Again, care will be needed in selecting an appropriate benchmark with which to compare results.

Floor standards. All citizens, whether or not they are neurodiverse, experience mental health challenges or have a learning disability, have a right to freedom from abuse by staff, compassion, dignity and respect. CAIRO is not testing teams in an attempt to find criminal or unprofessional behaviour, but rather it is designed to help teams reflect on their practice and, where necessary, plan for change.

Motivation, not money. CAIRO has been automated, so it can be offered as a free resource to teams.