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Purpose: Parental advocacy is an emerging area of research and policy interest in Wales and across the UK. Although there is little research in the UK context to date, international research has indicated that parental advocacy can improve the relationship between parent and professional in the field of child protection social work. This paper aims to ascertain how the implementation of a parental advocacy programme supports parents to play a meaningful role in decision-making when children's services are working with them and their families. Design/methodology/approach: This study used interviews, surveys and focus groups to obtain qualitative data from 18 parents, seven parent advocates, two advocacy managers and four social workers, to explore the potential impact of parental advocacy on decision-making. The study identified challenges in implementing parental advocacy, particularly relating to awareness of the service. Participants also discussed experiences of the child protection system and how parents are supported by advocates. Findings: Despite challenges surrounding implementation, initial findings were encouraging, and generated examples of how parental advocacy services have helped parents to understand children's services and develop relationships of trust with social care professionals. In doing so, this study identified potential mechanisms that may be useful to support future service delivery. Originality/value: This paper and research is novel as it explores parental advocacy within the Welsh context. Although there has been research conducted into parental advocacy, this has largely come from the USA. This research comes from the evaluation of an innovative and promising parental advocacy scheme in Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research was conducted as part of a PhD study. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors taken into consideration when multi-agency practitioners were considering financial harm in the context of adult protection and how this influenced their decision-making processes. Design/methodology/approach: An adapted q sort methodology initially established the areas of financial harm considered to have additional factors, which led to complexity in adult protection decision making. These factors were further explored in individual interviews or focus groups. Findings: The data identified that the decision-making process varied between thorough analysis, rationality and heuristics with evidence of cue recognition, factor weighting and causal thinking. This highlighted the relevance of Kahneman's (2011) dual processing model in social work practice. Errors that occurred through an over reliance on System 1 thinking can be identified and rectified through the use of System 2 thinking and strengthen social work decision-making. Originality/value: This paper considers the practice of multi-agency adult protection work in relation to financial harm and identifies the influences on decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This service evaluation aims to understand the experiences of service users (SUs) who accessed an early intervention in psychosis (EIP) service during the Coronavirus pandemic using qualitative and quantitative methodologies and compare these to a previous pre-pandemic study conducted within the same service (Watkins et al., 2018). Design/methodology/approach: This paper collated experiences of individuals accessing an EIP service to inform service development. Questionnaires and individual interviews were conducted to provide quantitative and qualitative data. Descriptive statistics and T-test confidence intervals were created from the results and compared to findings of Watkins et al. (2018). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis. Findings: Data showed participants were largely satisfied with all areas of the service with "work or education", "living skills", and "addictions" scoring highest. Though participants reported no overall dissatisfaction, satisfaction levels dropped in "social activities" compared to the findings of Watkins et al. (2018), perhaps due to the national restrictions put in place to manage the spread of Coronavirus during this time. Interview analysis identified three themes of importance consistent with prior literature, highlighting the importance of relationships and validation during recovery. Research limitations/implications: This evaluation did not consider whether participants had accessed the service prior to the pandemic or only during, meaning that some participants could have a point of comparison with the service pre-pandemic, whereas others might not. Similarly, the participants were not the same as those of the Watkins et al.'s (2018) evaluation, meaning that direct comparisons of pre- and post-pandemic experiences were not possible. In addition, this evaluation collected data at only one time point early in the pandemic; therefore, it is unknown if client experiences of services differed as the pandemic and restrictions continued over time. Originality/value: The Covid-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented challenge for health services, and the effects of this are becoming widely reported. This evaluation of clinical services offers a valuable perspective of service user experience of receiving mental health services during a global health crisis further offering a comparison to pre-pandemic services and the experiences of those who used them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As Covid-19 became a pandemic, numerous people were forced to stay at home, leading to increased intimate partner violence (IPV) in many countries, particularly in developing and least-developed ones. This paper aims to highlight the IPV based on 15 different cases formed from the practical evidence of five developing countries. Design/methodology/approach: The authors interviewed 15 women from five countries who were the victims of IPV during the early periods of Covid-19 outbreak. Due to geographical remoteness, the authors conducted informal telephone interviews to collect the participants' personal experiences. The conversations were recorded with participants' permission; afterwards, the authors summarized participants' experiences into 15 different cases without revealing their original identities (instead, disguised names were used). Findings: It was revealed that the women were the primary victims of such violence, particularly from their intimate partners (husbands). In most cases, such IPV, as reported by the interviewees, originated or increased after the pandemic when they were forced to stay at home, losing their partners' jobs or income sources. Originality/value: The authors summarized the causes of IPV and put forward a few action recommendations based on the interviewees' practical experience and existing literature. This paper will open a new window for research investigations on IPV during emergencies such as Covid-19 outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the lived experiences of key stakeholders working with homeless people during the implementation of universal credit during the austerity years. Design/methodology/approach: The literature on austerity reveals welfare reforms' impact on support services staff. Service providers' perceptions of the impact of austerity-led policies and welfare reform via nine interviews with people working in homelessness organisations in Brighton and Hove in the UK. Service providers see the situation for their service users has gotten worse and that the policies make it more difficult to extricate themselves from their current situation. Three central themes relating to the impact of austerity-led welfare reforms were, namely, Universal Credit: the imposition of a precarious livelihood on welfare claimants; a double-edged sword: "If people are sanctioned: people can't pay"; and "Hard to maintain my own mental equilibrium". Findings: More precisely, this paper captures service providers' perceptions and experiences of the impact of austerity-led policies on their services and how they believe this, in turn, impacts their clients and their own lives. Research limitations/implications: The dimension cuts across service provision to vulnerable people and is intertwined with health and well-being outcomes. Austerity is detrimental to the health of service users and their clients. It is known that when it comes to the health and well-being of the most vulnerable, who have suffered most from the impacts of austerity policies. However, in times of open austerity, it falls also on those trying to ease their suffering. Originality/value: The data suggest that policies were developed and accentuated by austerity, which led to the stripping of welfare support from vulnerable people. This process has impacted the people who rely on welfare and service providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The shift in policy discourse towards individualism is affecting service provision and access, which has become increasingly conditioned on individual agency and the "deservingness" of the recipient. Gendered and intersectional experiences of homelessness and excluded populations less likely to be living on the streets remain overlooked and unaddressed. This study thus aims to uncover what drives "invisibility" in services for women experiencing multiple disadvantage and the gendered constraints the women are facing when exiting and navigating multiple disadvantage. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on in-depth interviews with women who face severe and multiple disadvantage and their support staff. Data is also gathered through survey data and observations with a wide range of frontline service providers, as well as support notes and numerical progress data recorded by one of the service providers. Findings: Contradicting the common assumption that people act as rational actors in their interaction with services, the author found that women's decisions to (dis)engage may be blinded by forces of multiple disadvantage and mistrust. These are often developed as a result of systemic and gendered constraints that limit women's capabilities and exercise of choice. Barriers in service access often amplified the personal barriers they were facing and reinforced women's decisions to not engage with services. Research limitations/implications: The author hopes that this paper sheds light on the particular set of barriers women with multiple disadvantage face, which will be vital to reach women who face severe disadvantage and provide more effective policies, care and support. Originality/value: This study gives voice to a particular hidden population: women with multiple disadvantage. It contributes to existing frameworks on agency and choice by understanding gendered barriers behind service engagement and how services themselves may be contributing to women's invisibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine landlords' health support systems to tenants to control COVID-19 in selected informal settlement rental housing (ISRH) in Ghana, dwelling on landlords' views. Design/methodology/approach: The paper used the concurrent imbedded mixed-methods approach and grounded the findings in the socio-ecological theory. The authors collected both qualitative and quantitative data from 242 landlords in 13 informal settlements across Ghana using quotas. The authors undertook semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews. The authors conducted content and thematic qualitative data analysis and used simple descriptive statistical data analysis. Findings: The paper discovered that tenants had limited knowledge on the transmission of the pandemic, forcing landlords to regulate their building services usage, ventilation and thermal control, entertainment, common areas and rent advancement for tenants to control the pandemic. Also, tenants found it difficult to comply with the rules on ventilation for fear of criminal attacks, while high social connection and interaction among renters and inadequate enforcement caused the non-adherence by renters to social gathering. Again, landlords had difficulty in contract-tracing visitors suspected to be infected with the virus. Originality/value: The use of concurrent and imbedded mixed methods to investigate landlords' viewpoints on their support in health needs of their tenants to regulate COVID-19. The prescriptions from the study provide practical applications to formulate a mix of housing and health policies to formalize the support of landlords to their tenants in ISRH in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This qualitative study set within Northern Ireland aims to explore professional perspectives on the application of evidence-informed practice to the adult safeguarding threshold screening process. Design/methodology/approach: Data was gathered from seven social workers in one health and social care trust area, who perform the designated adult protection role, through individual semi-structured interviews in one region of Northern Ireland. The interview schedule comprised of a series of questions examining the role of the designated adult protection officer and included three vignettes (Appendix). A thematic analysis was undertaken using NVIVO software. Findings: This paper reports main findings under the themes of: the role of the designated adult protection officer, threshold decision-making, evidence-informed practice and service improvement. One of the main findings was that professionals viewed the current process as too bureaucratic, and there was a desire to engage in more preventive safeguarding in collaboration with service users. There was a need to promote awareness of evidence-informed practice as it applies to the threshold screening process. Furthermore, the study raised the question of the need to consider the application of models or methods of assessment to the threshold screening process. Originality/value: This in-depth exploration of the role of designated adult protection officers in Northern Ireland provides a valuable insight into the complexity involved in managing adult safeguarding referrals and investigations. This study adds to the existing knowledge base, identifies potential service improvements and highlights the gap in evidence-based practice as it applies to the threshold screening process. Threshold screening of adult safeguarding referrals remains a subjective process and is open to interpretation and differences in professional judgement. The study highlights the need to consider the application of quality improvement methodology to the threshold screening assessment and the need to promote the exchange of safeguarding knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the roles of psychologists in seclusion in adult mental health services in Ireland, their perspectives on seclusion and its use in recovery-oriented practice and related professional practice issues. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted from a social constructivist perspective. Semi-structured interviews with 17 psychologists were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings: Twenty-four themes were identified, which were clustered into four overarching themes. Participants viewed themselves and psychology in Ireland more broadly as peripheral to seclusion. They believed that seclusion possessed no inherent therapeutic value but viewed it as an uncomfortable and multi-faceted reality. Participants regarded seclusion and recovery as largely inconsistent and difficult to reconcile, and they perceived systemic factors, which had a pervasive negative impact on seclusion and recovery in practice. Practical implications: The findings highlight the perceived complexity of seclusion and its interface with recovery, and the need to conscientiously balance conflicting priorities that cannot be easily reconciled to ensure ethical practice. The findings suggest psychologists are well-suited to participate in local and national discussions on using seclusion in recovery-oriented practice. Originality/value: This study offers a unique insight into psychologists' perceptions of seclusion and considers the implications of these views. Participants' nuanced views suggest that psychologists can make valuable contributions to local and national discussions on these topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to gain a qualitative view of the participant experience of using home-based transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Acceptability impacts patient preference, treatment adherence and outcomes. However, acceptability is usually assessed by rates of attrition, while multifaceted constructs are not reflected or given meaningful interpretations. tDCS is a novel non-invasive brain stimulation that is a potential treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). Most studies have provided tDCS in a research centre. As tDCS is portable, the authors developed a home-based treatment protocol that was associated with clinical improvements that were maintained in the long term. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examined the acceptability of home-based tDCS treatment in MDD through questionnaires and individual interviews at three timepoints: baseline, at a six-week course of treatment, and at six-month follow-up. Twenty-six participants (19 women) with MDD in a current depressive episode of at least moderate severity were enrolled. tDCS was provided in a bifrontal montage with real-time remote supervision by video conference at each session. A thematic analysis was conducted of the individual interviews. Findings: Thematic analysis revealed four main themes: effectiveness, side effects, time commitment and support, feeling held and contained. The themes reflected the high acceptability of tDCS treatment, whereas the theme of feeling contained might be specific to this protocol. Originality/value: Qualitative analysis methods and individual interviews generated novel insights into the acceptability of tDCS as a potential treatment for MDD. Feelings of containment might be specific to the present protocol, which consisted of real-time supervision at each session. Meaningful interpretation can provide context to a complex construct, which will aid in understanding and clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Using a mixed methodology comprising interviews, case file analysis and descriptive statistics, this study aims to examine the experiences of all 43 young people in Wales subject to secure accommodation orders between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2018. Design/methodology/approach: Children in the UK aged 10–17 years who are deemed to be at a significant level of risk to themselves or others may be subject to a secure accommodation order, leading to time spent in a secure children's home (SCH) on welfare grounds. Following a rise in the number of children in Wales referred to SCHs for welfare reasons, this paper describes these young people's journeys into, through and out of SCHs, giving insight into their experiences and highlighting areas for policy and practice improvements. Findings: Findings indicate that improvements in mental health support and placement availability are key in improving the experiences of this particularly vulnerable group of young people throughout their childhood. Practical implications: Other practical implications of the study's findings, such as improvements in secure transport arrangements, are also discussed. Originality/value: While the findings are limited by the reliance on self-report methods and the size of the study, namely, the small number of young people with experience of SCHs who were able to participate, the findings build on the existing knowledge base around children's residential accommodation and provide new insights into how best to support these children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the use of coproduction to create a film "Do You See Me?", to amplify the voices of a "hard to reach" group: older lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) victim-survivors of domestic abuse (DA). Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative methods were used as part of the co-production, which included two practitioner focus groups and 14 narrative interviews with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning persons or the community (LGBTQ+) victim-survivors. Findings: Despite differences in gender, sexualities, roles and "lived experiences" across stakeholders, there was a shared aim to ensure victim-survivors had a sense of ownership in this endeavour. Consequently, a positive reciprocity existed that helped to foster effective communication, allow for capacity building and subsequent knowledge exchange. The collaboration produced a nuanced meta-narrative making visible the "lived experiences" of LGB victim-survivors' perceptions of perpetrator behaviours. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is original in two ways, firstly, providing insights into the "lived experiences" of an invisible group; older LGBTQ+ victim-survivors, and secondly, in involving them in the co-production of a film. The paper aims to reveal how interdependencies that developed between stakeholders helped to disrupt understandings, develop new ways of knowing and build levels of trust. Group interactions helped to dismantle hierarchies, so those with experiential knowledge: the survivors, had greater control throughout the research process. The paper is significant in providing a critical reflection on the ethical, methodological and resource challenges involved in co-production. It also makes recommendations for researchers and funders about the value of using co-production as a method to engage with hard-to-reach groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Across the UK and Ireland, there are a range of processes and interventions offered to adults who, because of personal characteristics or life circumstances, require help to keep themselves safe from potential harm or abuse. The ways in which the statutory and voluntary sectors have chosen to safeguard these adults varies. Different models of intervention and the utilisation of a range of assessment tools, frameworks and approaches have evolved, often in response to policy and practice wisdom. Empirical research in this area is limited. The primary research purpose of the project on which this paper is based is to gather information on the range of tools and frameworks that are used in adult safeguarding practice across the UK and Ireland. In so doing, this paper seeks to contribute and inform the future development of an evidence based adult safeguarding assessment framework. Design/methodology/approach: A team of academics from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland wanted to explore the possibility of adapting a pre-existing assessment framework currently in use in family and childcare social work to consider its utility in assessing carers involved in adult safeguarding referrals. This paper reports on a small pilot study which sought to inform the adaptation of this framework for use in adult safeguarding. This paper is based on a qualitative study involving 11 semi-structured telephone interviews with adult safeguarding social work managers and experienced practitioners. Two to four professionals from each region of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland were interviewed to elicit their perceptions and experiences of engaging in adult safeguarding assessment processes and their views about models of assessment. Findings: This study identified considerable variation in and between the nations under review, in terms of the assessment frameworks and tools used in adult safeguarding practice. To a large extent, the assessment frameworks and tools in use were not evidence based or accredited. Participants acknowledged the value of using assessment frameworks and tools whilst also identifying barriers in undertaking effective assessments. Originality/value: There is limited evidence available in the literature regarding the utility of assessment frameworks and tools in adult safeguarding practice. This primary research identifies four themes derived from professional's experiences of using such frameworks and identifies broader recommendations for policy and practice in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the factor structure of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) among abused Iranian women. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is a methodological study. The participants included 554 abused married women who were selected by convenience sampling from the women presenting to health centers and hospitals and their companions as well as women visiting mosques and parks in Shahroud, Iran. The exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the factor structure of the WCQ. The reliability of the questionnaire was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Findings: Following the exploratory factor analysis, 36 items and 5 factors were extracted, which could explain 73.24% of the variance in the concept of coping with intimate partner violence. The extracted factors included distancing, planning, wishful thinking, seeking social support and problem-solving. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaire as a whole was 0.91. Originality/value: This paper has practice and research implications for promoting coping among abused women. The factor structure of the WCQ obtained in this paper can validly measure coping with intimate partner violence among abused Iranian women. Learning about the coping strategies used by abused women can help design context-based interventions to assist these women in better coping with their husband's violence and improving their well-being. This version of WCQ also enables assessing the effectiveness of the designed interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore the contribution of safeguarding adult reviews (SARs) to the contemporary stories of what social work practice is and what social workers should do. Evidence of this contribution is sought by analysis of SARs as publicly available documents capturing contemporary social work alongside considering social worker's views of these reports. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents two components of the wider research study as follows: documentary analysis exploring discussions of social work practice held within a sample of SARs xD;xA; and analysis of focus groups and semi-structured interviews established to explore the knowledge, experience and views of front-line social workers in relation to SARs. Findings: It is suggested that social workers locate the value of SARs within the arena of learning and development often celebrating the SAR processes in bringing agencies together more so than the actual report. This paper argues that SARs hold considerable power in their ability to present a narrative about contemporary social work in England, and that social workers themselves can be wary of this power. Research limitations/implications: The research is limited by the scope of the data which includes a sample of SARs from one geographical area and data collected from social workers who volunteered to participate. Practical implications: This paper draws on the evidence gathered and presents some recommendations to support the potential for SARs to positively enhance social work identity and practice. Social implications: This paper explores the stories about social work that are found within a sample of SARs and seeks to explore how these stories fit with the stories that social workers themselves share about SARs. Originality/value: There has been considerable research interest in SARs; however, to date there has not been a research exploration of the impact of SARs on professional social work and front-line social workers in practice. This paper presents early findings and analysis from research in progress as part of a Doctorate of Social Work Study at University of East London who provided ethical approval and supervisory support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the perceptions and experiences of a group of extra care tenants, who, as novice internet users, began to maintain their social relationships online. Housing transitions in later life may jeopardise existing social relationships, leading to loneliness and social isolation. More recently, Covid-19 restrictions have limited familial face-to-face contact and wider social interactions. Thus, extra care tenants, who are not already online, may benefit from acquiring internet skills. This paper aims to enhance understanding of the participants' transition from novices to experienced internet users and the impact on their social relationships and sense of self. Design/methodology/approach: A longitudinal, hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted over eight months in two extra care housing schemes in north east England. Ten participants (56–98 years) with age-related physical, sensory and cognitive losses were recruited to the study. A series of semi-structured interviews and participant diaries captured the participants' experience as they developed internet skills and communicated online. Findings: All participants, including a blind individual, learnt to communicate online. Personalised adaptive strategies, peer support, training and management involvement facilitated internet uptake. Participants felt their social relationships were supported, and they regained biographical continuity, through being and feeling they belonged in the modern digital world. Originality/value: The online experiences of extra care tenants are rarely voiced. Their perceptions may assist others to engage online, maintaining social connections, which could otherwise be lost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: "Social recovery" is a long-cited aim within the UK early intervention in psychosis (EIP) services; however, there is a lack of evidence regarding existing social recovery provisions and how these can be improved. This paper aims to evaluate an existing social drop-in facility within an EIP team, ran within the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, and highlight the potential benefits of delivering such services for people diagnosed with first episode psychosis. Design/methodology/approach: Attendance and basic demographic statistics (age, gender and ethnicity of attendees) were collected over a period of 13 weeks. In addition, two semi-structured focus groups were conducted: one with EIP staff members (community psychiatric nurses and support workers) and the other with current service users, with both groups describing their satisfaction and experience of the drop-in facility and how it can be improved. Findings: Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse data from both focus groups, with six overarching meta-themes being identified: reflection, environment, emotional experience, recovery, activities and interactions. Service users and staff reflected that the drop-in facility was an asset to the service, although work could be done to improve overall attendance. Originality/value: This paper explores how a social drop-in facility can provide a supportive, positive environment that aids recovery from psychosis for service users and improves working conditions for the EIP staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The disproportionate representation in juvenile justice systems of children who are, or have been, in the care of the state is a major cause of concern internationally. However, the experiences of this particular group are largely absent from both policy debates and the international research base. This paper aims to correct that deficit by exploring the lived experiences of residential care, justice-involved children. Design/methodology/approach: An interpretivist investigation of care experienced children's perceptions of their experiences, involving semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 19 children in England who were simultaneously in residential care and subject to youth justice supervision. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. Findings: Care-experienced children described how their experiences of residential care environments and regimes have undermined their sense of how they see themselves, now and looking to the future. Against this background of disrupted identity, they also reported stigmatising interactions with staff that leave them feeling labelled both as a generic "looked-after child" and as a "bad kid". Research limitations/implications: The findings are based on the perceptions of a group of children in the criminal justice system, which, although reflecting the experiences of those with negative outcomes, may not be representative of all children in residential care. Practical implications: The findings have implications for those responsible for the care and development of care-experienced children, as well policymakers concerned with reducing the numbers of care-experienced children in youth justice. Those responsible for the care and development of care-experienced children should consider steps to reduce how factors outlined here disrupt a child's sense of self and introduce criminogenic labelling and stigma. Originality/value: Despite a number of studies seeking to understand why the number of care experienced children in the youth justice system is disproportionate, there is very little empirical work that seeks to understand the experiences and perceptions of children currently both in care and the criminal justice system. This paper seeks to correct this deficit, by detailing how children who are both in residential care and subject to youth justice supervision view their care experiences. The implications of this for policy, practice and further research are then explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider how a South East project approached systems change to improve unsupported temporary accommodation (UTA) and the changes made for people experiencing multiple disadvantage ("multiple and complex needs"). This paper also covers some matters that are hard to change or uncertain, such as housing shortages and financial constraints. The paper focuses on a case study of the East Sussex Temporary Accommodation Action Group (TAAG) – a multi-agency action group. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative case study involving a thematic analysis of seven semi-structured interviews, with a review of published literature and internal documentation. Findings: This example of setting up a TAAG shows us the value of having a dedicated forum to look at a part of the system that requires changing and to identify what works well. Creating a collaborative and democratic space with a common purpose brings different stakeholders and perspectives together and opens discussions to new ways of working. Equalising partners creates an opportunity to create change from the bottom-up within a system traditionally governed by statutory bodies. This study found that the TAAG has facilitated learning around trauma-informed practice and nurtured more sustainable changes towards a Standards Charter and women-only safe UTA. Originality/value: This is one of the first qualitative case studies of a local systems change approach to improving UTA for people experiencing multiple disadvantage in East Sussex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Inspiring Change Manchester (ICM) programme has aimed to improve outcomes, including employability, for people experiencing multiple disadvantage in Manchester. This paper aims to compare learning from the ICM partnership with wider literature to demonstrate what helps people with experience of multiple disadvantage to achieve training, volunteering or work outcomes and what may prevent this. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews with people with experience of multiple disadvantage and employers in Manchester working with this group were thematically analysed, and the findings were compared to wider literature, previous ICM research and programme data. The primary research took a peer research approach. Peer researchers co-designed the topic guides, co-facilitated interviews where possible and helped to identify key themes. Findings: Entering and succeeding in training, volunteering and/ or paid work has many positive impacts for people experiencing multiple disadvantage. Ongoing and better awareness raising will be key for more individuals to benefit from such pathways, alongside accessible recruitment processes. Continuous personal and professional development opportunities are important to positive experiences, as is organisational culture. Short-term contracts arose as an issue in the research, more needs to be done to support people with experience of multiple disadvantage into secure work. Originality/value: Although there is a range of literature on good practice and challenges to enable people to engage in training or employment, this often focuses on a particular characteristic or need, rather than experiences of people facing a combination of interrelated needs. This paper also includes first-person lived experience voice, rather than this perspective being interpreted through a particular lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a mixed-methods study on the impact that COVID-19 has had on adult safeguarding. The research sought to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19 to both frontline and non-frontline professionals working in adult safeguarding. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods project was undertaken comprising a literature review, survey, semi-structured interviews and a small number of freedom of information requests. This paper presents the findings predominantly from the survey and interviews. Findings: Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 has presented a variety of challenges for professionals working in adult safeguarding. The themes that occurred most often were the day-to-day changes and challenges, relationships across sectors, information and navigating the ethical questions in safeguarding. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, the findings represent the first focused qualitative mixed-method study aimed at understanding more about the impact the pandemic has had on adult safeguarding through the eyes of those professionals working in that field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to underline the importance of using a collaborative approach when designing and adapting a post diagnostic psychosocial intervention of cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) for people with intellectual disability and dementia. Design/methodology/approach: As part of a service improvement, a manual of CST was adapted, for delivery in clinical practice. A qualitative co-production method allowed participants with a lived experience to provide regular feedback relating to the development of the adapted CST manual and intervention programme. This feedback was used to make continual development changes to the CST manual. Findings: The study demonstrated co-production with those who provide care is valuable in adapting psychosocial therapies for people with an intellectual disability and dementia. Additional findings identified the need for carer education in ageing, dementia care and the physical health needs for older people with intellectual disability. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that has used a co-production approach with families and carers in adapting a group therapy programme for people with an intellectual disability. This paper underlines the need for post diagnostic clinical interventions for people with dementia and those who provide care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the outcomes experienced by young people leaving care in Ireland today through the theoretical lens of social capital. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents selected qualitative data and its analysis that was gathered through a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews with three key informants (care leavers). In gathering interview data, the Biographic-Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) was selected, as it allowed the research participants a great deal of autonomy in recounting significant events from their own lives. Findings: In drawing upon the lived experience of these care leavers, this work will discuss how their in-care and post-care experiences shaped their exposure to and development of sources of social capital, which in turn proved to be a significant factor in shaping their in-care and post-care outcomes. Social implications: Care leavers remain systemically disadvantaged in comparison to young people who have not been in care. Research has shown that children in care and care leavers are often disadvantaged educationally and experience higher rates of homelessness, unemployment and social isolation. This paper discusses the role of "social capital", i.e. relationships that provide access to social and material resources and opportunities, in shaping care leavers exposure to and experience of these disadvantages. Originality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this work is the first in the Irish context to draw on the concept of social capital to explore its role in shaping the in-care and post-care experiences of care leavers in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health organisations in England. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative mixed-methods approach was applied, including a review of the academic literature, a review of the non-academic literature and a brief semi-structured survey. Respondents of the semi-structured survey included seven healthcare leaders from four different NHS Mental Health Trusts in England. This review applied thematic analysis to the data findings. Findings: Mental health organisations in England have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis of the identified resources found four overarching areas for learning: organisational structures, approaches to practice (working and delivering care), leadership and staff support. Organisational structures refer to structural, systemic and procedural changes that have taken place. Approaches to practice relate to shifts in organisational work and delivery of care. Leadership identifies styles used to manage change and disruption. Staff support refers to measures and interventions applied to meet changing staff needs and well-being. Practical implications: Mental health organisations can reduce the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through continuous improvements in future crisis planning, innovations in clinical practice and a sustained focus on staff well-being. Originality/value: A multi-dimensional exploration into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health organisations was conducted. The review also provides insights into the experience of healthcare leadership in managing change during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study to examine, determine and propose the optimal approach to develop impact assessment indicators for the UK Web Archive. Design/methodology/approach: The paper analyses the existing literature on impact assessment frameworks for digital resources and the types of impact in related fields to set an approach to develop an impact assessment plan. Primarily drawing from the Balanced Value Impact Model, the approach consists of three stages: context setting, indicator development and indicator evaluation. Findings: The development of a set of potential impact assessment indicators for the UK Web Archive shows not only an optimal approach for the development but also recommendations for web archiving organisations. Research limitations/implications: The research did not carry out follow-up interviews regarding the feedback from UK Web Archive's staff. Adoption of the new set of indicators will further this development. Practical implications: The staff's duties influence their prioritisation of the indicators, so discussions among partners will be helpful in recognising different perceptions, unnoticed strengths and potential values. A progressive accumulation of assessment and improvements from the current state and small regular evaluations will be also helpful to demonstrate the impact and value to the stakeholders in the future. Originality/value: This paper proposes a set of 13 potential indicators for the UK Web Archive of which functionality was checked against set quality criteria and tested through semi-structured interviews and survey submissions with the UK Web Archive staff members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to consider the relationship between disability hate crime and safeguarding adults. It critically considers whether safeguarding responses to disability hate crime have changed following the implementation of the Care Act 2014. Historically, protectionist responses to disabled people may have masked the scale of hate crime and prevented them from seeking legal recourse through the criminal justice system (CJS). This paper investigates whether agencies are working together effectively to tackle hate crime. Design/methodology/approach: The research presented draws on semi-structured interviews with key informants who work with disabled people and organisations as part of a wider study on disability hate crime. Findings: Prior to the Care Act, safeguarding practice often failed to prioritise criminal justice interventions when responding to reports of disability hate crimes. Improving engagement within multi-agency safeguarding hubs and boards has the potential to increase hate crime awareness and reporting. Research limitations/implications: This research was limited in scope to 15 participants who worked in England within safeguarding teams or with victims of hate crime. Practical implications: Raising the profile of disability hate crime within safeguarding teams could lead to achieving more effective outcomes for adults at risk: improving confidence in reporting, identifying perpetrators of hate crimes, enabling the CJS to intervene and reducing the risk of further targeted abuse on the victim or wider community. Originality/value: This paper is original in its contribution in this field as there is a dearth of research on the relationship between safeguarding and disability hate crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the concept and practice, of dignity as understood and experienced by older adults and district nursing staff. The paper adds a new, nuanced, understanding of safeguarding possibilities in the context of district nursing care delivered in the home. Design/methodology/approach: The research used an ethnographic methodology involving observations of care between community district nursing clinicians and patients (n = 62) and semi-structured interviews with nursing staff (n = 11) and older adult recipients of district nursing care (n = 11) in England. Findings: Abuse is less likely to occur when clinicians are maintaining the dignity of their patients. The themes of time and space are used to demonstrate some fundamental ways in which dignity manifests. The absence of dignity offers opportunities for abuse and neglect to thrive; therefore, both time and space are essential safeguarding considerations. Dignity is influenced by time and how it is experienced temporally, but nurses are not allocated time to "do dignity", an arguably essential component of the caregiving role, yet one that can become marginalised. The home-clinic exists as a clinical space requiring careful management to ensure it is also an environment of dignity that can safeguard older adults. Practical implications: District nurses have both a proactive and reactive role in ensuring their patients remain safeguarded. By ensuring care is delivered with dignity and taking appropriate action if they suspect abuse or neglect, district nurses can safeguard their patients. Originality/value: This paper begins to address an omission in existing empirical research regarding the role of district nursing teams in delivering dignified care and how this can safeguard older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to focus on the housing situation in Indian cities and the various stakeholders involved in the housing sector. This study addresses the conflict in expectations of the supply and demand side of the housing and establishes the factors crucial to making housing successful for all the stakeholders, essential for sustainable urban development. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is developed using the content analysis of preceding independent reviews on housing sustainability by authors across the globe, a review of the current housing situation in Indian cities and a Pilot study of the desired qualitative aspects of housing by the consumer group. Findings: This paper identifies the challenges and constraints of the various stakeholders involved in the housing sector. A comprehensive list of all the parameters, both qualitative and quantitative, essential for successful housing implementation, focused on the preferences of the demand side, also referred to as the "Critical Success Factors (CSFs)" is generated. The results advocate a strict consideration and integration of these CSFs with the housing policies for all future housing projects. Research limitations/implications: Most of the studies conducted in the past have reviewed the housing situation in India from the perspective of the government authorities and the initiatives undertaken by them to improve the housing crisis. However, a gap exists in achieving a balanced understanding of the supply-side constraints, with the demand-side expectations from the housing. Focusing only on the supply without adequately understanding the consumption can only lead to further chaos in the already turbulent housing situation. Originality/value: To the best of author's knowledge, this is among the first attempts to address the housing scenario in urban centers of India, simultaneously from the perspective of both the demand side and the supply side of the housing, giving additional impetus to the expectations of the demand side which are often ignored. This study becomes more relevant in the ongoing pandemic situation to be able to provide appropriate and acceptable housing solutions to all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore service-user perspectives of sensory approaches introduced and promoted by the trauma and self-injury service within the National High Secure Healthcare Service for Women (NHSHSW) at Rampton Hospital. Design/methodology/approach: This cross-sectional descriptive study used a semi-structured questionnaire, which was devised for this evaluation and included both open and closed questions. The data collected were then analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Findings: The paper evaluates the current use of sensory approaches within the NHSHSW. Sensory approaches were widely used across the service, with essential oils being the most commonly used sensory approach. The use of sensory approaches can be understood according to the following three themes: independence, accessibility and self-regulation. The self-regulation theme contained three sub-themes as follows: safety-seeking, relaxation and reducing distress. The evaluation also highlighted barriers to using sensory approaches and sought service-user feedback as to how these may be overcome. Practical implications: Participants' feedback informed changes to practice, such as introducing sensory approaches to service-users earlier in their care pathway and increasing the accessibility of sensory items. These approaches may be of relevance to service provision in other forensic or inpatient settings. Originality/value: This paper offers a unique contribution to the current literature with its focus on using sensory approaches to ameliorate trauma symptoms, in the context of a forensic setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the experience of one large Irish youth work organisation, Foróige, to measures introduced during the initial phase of COVID-19 in 2020. In the face of the unprecedented crisis including the closure of schools and curtailment of many youth services, this paper examines how the organisation responded and adapted its service offering. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 senior managers and youth officers in Foróige to explore their perspectives on the organisation's response. Participants were purposively sampled from across the operational management functions and also from regional levels and youth workers engaging in work "on the ground". Findings: Shifting from a face-to -face, relationship-based to a distanced mode of engagement with young people, colleagues and volunteers required significant adaptation of Foróige's service model. Innovation took place both in the delivery platform and fundamentally, in its service orientation. The accelerated move to online youth work brought about by the pandemic enabled the organisation to embrace and learn from the challenges and opportunities posed by digital technology. Responding to the immediate and tangible needs of young people in receipt of services, staff found themselves working with families at the more basic levels of intervention. Originality/value: This paper provides new insights into the nature of non-profit service innovation during a time of unprecedented crisis management. It highlights characteristics of organisational agility that can assist organisations in managing crises, while also pointing the way towards a more flexible operating model for youth work service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The backdrop to the Munro Review of Child Protection was a narrative propagated in the British national press, and perpetuated particularly by the then opposition Conservative Party, that the case of "Baby P" evidenced the English child protection system was "failing" and in need of reform. Subsequently, the review asserted that the system had become "over-bureaucratised" and "defensive" at the expense of social worker discretion in the interests of the individual child, highlighting the need for "radical reform". This paper aims to report on the extent of, and continued barriers to, social worker discretion within the contemporary English child protection. Design/methodology/approach: As an ethnographic case study of a single English child protection team, the study used a sequential and iterative mixed method design, encompassing observation, document analysis, focus groups, questionnaire, interviews and "Critical Realist Grounded Theory". Findings: The study found that social worker discretion was continuing to be undermined by the "Baby P effect"; not only in the sense of increasing numbers of children within the system but also by the perpetual fear of being "named", "blamed" and "shamed", akin to Peter Connelly's social workers. Originality/value: The paper considers how discretion is manifested in contemporary child protection, especially in the context of the "child-centred" system envisaged by the Munro Review. It concludes that the British media and politicians have a continued role to play in reducing the risk associated with the social worker's discretionary space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Participation is the active involvement of children and young people in decision-making regarding issues that affect their lives. It is crucial in the context of child protection and welfare systems and how they respond to the needs of children and young people. The purpose of this paper is to report on the evaluation of child and family participation in an early intervention and prevention programme implemented by the Irish Child and Family Agency. It provides an analysis of a comprehensive, "whole organization" approach to understand how participation is embedded in policy and practice. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reports on a comparative qualitative case study of the perspectives of managers and practitioners about participation practice, identifying the facilitators and barriers, as well as their perspectives of the sustainability of participation within the agency and its partners. The authors draw on two complementary, theoretically informed studies evaluating participatory practice within the Agency using qualitative interviews with participants. Findings: Overall, managers and practitioners had a positive attitude towards participation and identified examples of best practices. Facilitators included training, access to resources and the quality of relationships. Challenges for meaningful participation remain, such as the need to engage, hard to reach populations. Differences were identified regarding how embedded and sustainable participation was. Originality/value: This paper provides a critical understanding of participation in practice and how to embed a culture of participation in child protection and welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Whilst recruitment and retention of high-quality staff is vital to providing a good service, at the time of the evaluations, Kent, Surrey and Sussex (KSS) was the only area of the UK without a Higher Specialist Training (HST) scheme in intellectual disability (ID). The purpose of this project was to identify barriers to recruitment and support the need for change. Design/methodology/approach: This evaluation included conducting interviews with 16 practitioners in the region with links to ID to consider the gaps in training and find solutions. Findings: Four themes were identified, namely, good experiences are important to recruiting people into the ID field; bad experiences or lack of exposure to people with ID are likely to prevent engagement with this field; there is an ongoing need for specialist psychiatrists in ID services; and there is a developing need for specialists in neurodevelopmental disorders. Finally, the challenge means we need to think differently about developing a workforce. Seven recommendations to support workforce delivery in KSS were developed. Originality/value: This paper highlights an important rationale for ongoing need for HST in ID work and also reasons to engage people in this field. This has not been undertaken in the ID field in this way previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Health policies in England highlight the need for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) to embed new knowledge in practice, yet evidence remains scarce about the services' ability to learn from the external environment. This paper aims to present a critical analysis of the CAMHS' ability to implement new knowledge through the lens of absorptive capacity, an organisation's ability to identify, assimilate and use new valuable knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff from the CAMHS department of a mental health organisation in England to explore the services' absorptive capacity. Findings: Professionals were identified having an impact on the main absorptive capacity components in the following ways: professional background and perceived reliability of knowledge sources appeared to affect knowledge identification; informal communication was found to facilitate knowledge assimilation and exploitation; trust was found to enable knowledge exploitation, particularly between senior management and frontline professionals. At an organisational level, team meetings and internal reporting were identified as enablers to knowledge assimilation and exploitation, while organisational hierarchy and patient data management systems were identified as barriers to knowledge assimilation. No organisational processes were found regarding knowledge identification, indicating an imbalanced investment in the main components of absorptive capacity. Practical implications: Investing in these underpinning factors of absorptive capacity can assist CAMHS with capitalising on new knowledge that is valuable to service provision. Originality/value: This study offers novel insights into the learning ability of CAMHS through the lens of absorptive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an examination of the development of adult safeguarding policy from the perspectives of both policymakers and those who have sought to influence policy, to empower individuals with a learning disability to have a say in how policies, that influence their life and impact their right to independence, are developed. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a project which was led by a UK-wide interdisciplinary and multi-agency team, which included the central involvement of peer researchers who had lived experience of learning disability. It was based on a participatory disability research design. Findings: Factors which enabled or restrained individuals with a learning disability, and their supporting organisations, from getting their voice heard in policy development, are identified. Originality/value: This paper builds on policy theory and research, making recommendations for policy makers, disabled people and their supporting organisations as to how adult safeguarding policy, could be more effectively informed and influenced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The steady rise in aged population has brought many challenges such as social, economic and health care that confront of the older people in their later life. The purpose of this study is to understand the nature of challenges among the older people and to assess the role of social security programmes for the welfare of the older people. The qualitative descriptive research has been applied in this paper. Design/methodology/approach: The qualitative descriptive research has been applied in this paper. The study was conducted in a sample of 220 elderly living in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, using purposive sampling. The study was based on interviews. The order of questions and samples depended on the information flow during the interviews. The purposes of using the qualitative descriptive research in the present study are to satisfy the researcher's curiosity and desire for better understanding to discuss the challenges faced by older people (these challenges are social vulnerability, poor economic conditions, poor health and no familiarity with government programmes), to understand the practicability of the study in extensive way and to explain why any phenomenon occurs or why older people face problems in later life. Findings: The first finding demonstrates that the different challenges among older people such as social, economic and health challenges are affecting their way of life and sense of well-being and are fracturing their social bonds from the family and society. The second finding indicates that only 46.3% older people are benefitted from government pension programmes schemes. While the numbers of older people are unknown from other government welfare programmes such as health programmes, concession for older people and maintenance and welfare of parent and senior citizen act are not able to work properly due to lack of awareness and lack of proper communication between older people and government bodies. Originality/value: This is an original work of the author. The research work is based on primary data that examine the nature of challenges such as health, economic and social challenges faced by older people in later life and impact of these problems on the well-being of older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Considering the case study presented, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of the pandemic in local services for homeless people. Drawing from the concept of ontological security, it will be discussed how different services' levels of "housing adequacy" shaped remarkably different experiences of the pandemic for homeless people and social workers in terms of health protection and agency. Design/methodology/approach: This paper focuses on a case study concerning homeless services for people during the COVID-19 pandemic in the metropolitan and suburban area of Turin, in Northern Italy. In-depth interviews with social workers and participant observation during online meetings of workers from the shelters constitute the empirical data that have been collected during the first wave of the pandemic in Italy. Findings: According to the findings, the pandemic showed shelters as unsafe places that reduce homeless people's decision power and separate them from the rest of the citizenship. Instead, Housing First projects emerged as imore inclusive and safermore inclusive and safer spaces, able to enhance people's power over their own lives. The pandemic did not create emerging issues in the homeless services system or discontinuities: rather, it amplified pre-existing problematic aspects. Originality/value: The case study presented provides empirical insights to recognise at the political and organisational level the importance of housing as a measure of individual and collective security, calling for an intervention to tackle homelessness in terms of housing policies rather than exclusively social and emergency treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper is concerned with what intensive family intervention professionals reveal to the parents with whom they work about whether they themselves are parents or not, as a form of professional self-disclosure in child welfare work. This paper also addresses the act of lying in professional self-disclosure. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on material from a series of narrative interviews completed with practitioners from one family intervention programme in an English local authority as part of a study looking at how children's services professionals experience the suffering of parents. The study was based on a psychoanalytically informed methodological approach, which is represented in the analysis provided in the paper. Findings: The overall team ethos regarding parental status disclosure is considered briefly first then two participants' accounts are explored in depth. These involved, what can be considered as, questionable or unorthodox stances regarding parental status disclosure (and self-disclosure more generally). The exploration illustrates the role that practitioners' personal lives and histories can play in influencing how the act of professional parental status disclosure is experienced and how particular positions are invested in regarding the role of self-disclosure in working relationships with parents. Originality/value: Child welfare and family intervention professionals are often asked personal questions by the parents and carers they work with, including questions about whether they are a parent or not. These questions can be difficult to answer and there is a need for dedicated empirical analysis into the ways in which professionals experience, think about and respond to them and what they disclose about themselves when working with families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to survey and interview parents of young children with disabilities to document their perspectives on what professionals working with their children need to know. Rather than comparing opinions over time or as part of an outcome study, this paper met with participants at a single point in time for a conversation addressing two questions with implications for training, program development and continuing research, namely, to what extent do families believe the Advancing Community College Efforts in Paraprofessional Training (ACCEPT) standards and topics are important to include in educational programs preparing professionals to work with young children with disabilities in inclusive settings (survey)? How satisfied or dissatisfied are families with the practices of early childhood educators working with their children with disabilities in inclusive and other settings (focus group)? What knowledge and skills do families recommend are important for the preparation of early childhood educators working with children with disabilities in inclusive and other settings (focus group)? Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory design was used to gather information for use in future research and program development and research efforts. Descriptive statistics were compiled for the survey data and focus group interviews were content-analyzed for themes consistent with the project's eight standards and topics. Findings: Analyzes of survey and focus group interview data indicated that parents/caregivers held consistent views about information and skills needed to prepare teachers and others to work with children with disabilities in inclusive settings. Parents/caregivers were asked to complete a brief survey prioritizing the importance of the eight ACCEPT standards and topics when preparing early childhood educators for working with children with disabilities in inclusive settings. They all (n = 21) rated each standard and topic as "very important" (4) and provided 184 comments during follow-up interviews that represented positive examples, negative examples and recommendations distributed across the eight focusing standards. Originality/value: This research identified the need for educators to understand the high value and importance of communication with parents of children with disabilities. This study further suggests the need for teachers to value each child's individual needs and differences for their relationships with children and families to thrive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report findings from a service evaluation undertaken within a single specialist child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) team. The team works closely with local authority children's services to serve specific populations recognised as experiencing higher levels of mental health need, including children living in alternative care and with adoptive families. The evaluation sought to better understand the experience of this provision during the COVID-19 pandemic and concomitant increase in remote and digitally mediated care delivery. Design/methodology/approach: Analysis of the accounts of 38 parents, carers and professionals involved with the team gathered via telephone interviews and email and postal questionnaires. Findings: Similar views were expressed from participants involved with the team before and following the onset of the pandemic. Overall, satisfaction was high; however, changes in care appeared more challenging for those already involved with the team before the pandemic. Differences in experience between groups were also evident. Whereas foster carers' accounts were generally appreciative of the involvement of clinicians, particularly regarding clinician–patient relationships, amongst adoptive parents and members of children's birth families there were more mixed and negative impressions. Originality/value: Locally based service evaluations can help inform care pathway planning in specialist CAMHS provision as part of wider quality improvement initiatives. This is especially relevant considering the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and as the longer-term acceptability of remote working practices is appraised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the significant and high death toll of COVID-19 on care home residents and social care staff in England and Wales. These mortality figures, alongside differential treatment of residents and staff during the pandemic, are conceptualized as a form of structural abuse. Arguments are made for the inclusion of structural abuse as a separate category of elder abuse. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is predominantly conceptual but it also draws on available secondary data, such as mortality statistics, media reports and developing research. Findings: The lack of appropriate personal protective equipment, paucity of guidance and high mortality rate among care home staff and residents during the pandemic is indicative of social discourses that, when underpinned by ageism, reflect structural elder abuse. Research limitations/implications: The research is limited by its focus on a specific time period and its recency. It is also limited in not being based on primary empirical research but it remains exploratory and conceptual and provides a base for ongoing research in this area. Social implications: If structural elder abuse was to be included in classifications, it demands a rethink of social and health-care services and the policies and practices associated with them and reinforces the government message that safeguarding is everyone's business. Originality/value: Research concerning the effects and impact of COVID-19 are still in their early stages. However, the central element of originality in the paper concerns the linking of practices, policies and underlying social assumptions and structural, or societally ingrained, elder abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore residents' perceptions of a refurbishment programme to sheltered housing schemes and its impact on their well-being. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology draws upon a realist evaluation framework. Four participatory appraisals (PAs) and 19 interviews with residents were conducted in the sheltered housing schemes. Ages of participants ranged from 50 to 99 years. Findings: Two categories of residents were identified: healthy active older adults and older frail adults (or over 85+). Residents said their social and emotional well-being improved from the provision of indoor and outdoor communal areas. Older frail residents only accessed the new communal spaces when staff took them in their wheelchairs. The physical changes increased opportunities for social connections for residents. Conservatories and sensory gardens were most popular. Residents felt that structured activities in the new spaces and digital training would improve their social activities. Research limitations/implications: The participatory methods spanned over an hour, and some residents felt too tired to complete the full session. Practical implications: A practical limitation was that some sensory rooms were not fully completed at the time of the evaluation. Originality/value: This paper adds the following: Perceptions of residents of a refurbishment programme in sheltered housing and the impact on their well-being. Perceptions of residents about social activities after a refurbishment programme. Perceptions of residents about the impact of physical changes to their sheltered housing schemes and impact on their internal accessibility to the improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to present an analysis of a "county lines" safeguarding partnership in a large city region of England. A critical analysis of current literature and practice responses to "county lines" is followed by the presentation of an analytical framework that draws on three contextual and social theories of (child) harm. This framework is applied to the partnership work to ask: are the interconnected conditions of criminal exploitation of children via "county lines" understood?; do interventions target the contexts of harm?; and is social and institutional harm acknowledged and addressed? Design/methodology/approach: The analytical framework is applied to a data set collected by the author throughout a two-year study of the "county lines" partnership. Qualitative data collected by the author and quantitative data published by the partnership are coded and thematically analysed in NVivo against the analytic framework. Findings: Critical tensions are surfaced in the praxis of multi-agency, child welfare responses to "county lines" affected young people. Generalising these findings to the child welfare sector at large, it is proposed that the contextual dynamics of child harm via "county lines" must be understood in a broader sense, including how multi-agency child welfare practices contribute to the harm experienced by young people. Originality/value: There are limited peer-reviewed analyses of child welfare responses to "county lines". This paper contributes to that limited scholarship, extending the analysis by adopting a critical analytic framework to a regional county lines partnership at the juncture of future national, child welfare responses to "county lines". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how users with particularly complex needs including intellectual disability (ID) reacted to the changes and restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Design/methodology/approach: As few studies of changes during the pandemic include users with ID and multiple, complex needs, the authors adopted a qualitative approach, using a semistructured interview guide. Ten participants were leading ID nurses in residential facilities in community settings. The interviews were taped, transcribed and analyzed using a thematic analysis. Findings: The thematic analysis generated six main themes, including both user and staff perspectives: daily routines, activities, facilitation of tasks and well-being, from the users perspectives, and use of working hours and positive staff experiences, from the staff perspectives. Research limitations/implications: Ten residential facilities constituted a convenience sample of services for users with multiple, complex needs. Thus, the authors do not know whether the findings are representative. Further research should include user opinions based on the findings of this study. Practical implications: The users represented in this study appeared to experience less stress during the pandemic, contrary to the expectations of professional caregivers. The findings indicated more well-being among users. It was noted that receiving services at home, largely flexible schedules, staying in bed a little longer in the morning and avoiding stressful situations, such as travelling in minibuses, was appreciated by the users. Social implications: Daily schedules with activities throughout the day should be considered for users as represented in this study. Stressful events should also be considered. Originality/value: The knowledge about pandemic experiences of users with ID and additional complex conditions and hence comprehensive needs is still sparse. This study may add to this knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a case study tracking the development and engagement of a group of experts by experience (The Independent Futures (IF) Group) who provided a lived experience voice to the Bristol Golden Key (GK) partnership within the Fulfilling Lives programme. The case study reports the genesis and impact of the group, as well as the facilitators of impact and experiences of the group members and those they worked in partnership with. Design/methodology/approach: The research adopted an iterative approach drawing on multiple data sources over an eight-year period. An inductive ethnographic analysis of stakeholder and partnership meetings was combined with documentary analysis and thematic analysis of interviews with experts by experience and service providers. Findings: The voice of lived experience provided by the IF group contributed to the GK partnership through various channels. Evidence of this contribution and its impact was found at programme, city-wide and national levels of the service ecosystem. Furthermore, IF members recognised the value of the group in contributing to systems change and service improvement, but also for themselves. Practical implications: This case study serves to illustrate the impact of the lived experience voice on services and systems change, specifically the provision of that voice from a formalised advisory group. The successes and challenges of the group and the experiences of its members are reported with a view to sharing learning that may influence future co-production initiatives with experts by experience and service provision for those experiencing multiple disadvantage. Originality/value: The insights provided by the longitudinal observation of the group as it was formed and evolved, coupled with insights provided by the experts by experience, have important implications for facilitating and supporting sustainable lived experience input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the barriers to accessing mental health support for people experiencing multiple disadvantage along with some potential solutions for attempting to overcome these. It draws on evidence and learning from 12 voluntary sector-led partnerships in England funded by the National Lottery Community Fund's Fulfilling Lives programme. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative research was undertaken with frontline staff, senior leaders, volunteers, beneficiaries and stakeholders from Fulfilling Lives partnerships. This comprised focus groups (21 participants) and individual face-to-face interviews (41 participants), both of which explored barriers and local solutions to accessing statutory mental health services. Following a thematic analysis of transcripts, research participants and stakeholders were invited to a face-to-face workshop to review and validate emerging findings (34 participants). Findings: People experiencing multiple disadvantage face significant barriers in accessing support for their mental health. These include a complex system that is difficult to navigate, long waiting lists, high eligibility thresholds and models of support that lack flexibility. Fulfilling Lives partnerships have had the funding and the flexibility to trial different approaches. Promising solutions to barriers include the use of navigators, person-centred support and multi-agency networks and training. However, overcoming systemic barriers remains the most difficult challenge. Originality/value: Fulfilling Lives was a rare example of substantial and long-term (eight years) funding to work with people experiencing multiple disadvantage. This provided a unique opportunity to try different approaches and gather learning. The programme evaluation provides insights into the experiences of people facing multiple disadvantage and those who support them and offers evidence-based suggestions for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The incidents of elder victimisation and cases of victimisation, in general, are increasing fast in the society. These incidents have had negative impact on the sense of well-being and way of life of the older people. Therefore, fear of crime is being considered as a most concerning psycho-social problem amongst the older people in contemporary time. The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of crime rate on the well-being of the older people and examine the linkage between psychological factors and fear of crime amongst the older people. Design/methodology/approach: The present study is based on the mixed method approach and an exploratory research designed applied to conduct the study. The field survey has been done from October 2012 to January 2013 on a sample of 220 older people of rural and urban areas of Lucknow in the state of Uttar Pradesh through purposive sampling. For the study, researcher has interviewed 137 male older people and 83 female older people through interview schedules and case studies. The data have been analysed through descriptive and narrative analysis. Findings: The study finds that those older people have direct or indirect experience of victimisation, they have anxiety and feel insecurity that someone can victimise them. The study also finds that the happiness of older people is more affected due to anxiety and phobia and have higher level of feeling of fear of crime in their neighbourhood and home. The study also finds whenever anti-social elements are active in the neighbourhood and they commit crimes, fear of crime and anxiety grasp the older people to a large extent causing a fracture in their psychological well-being. Originality/value: This work is the original work of researcher. This paper is related to the researcher's PhD dissertation work. This paper talks about how the psychological well-being of older people affects due to nature of crime in neighbourhood, phobia of crime and anxiety due to criminal activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the views of psychologists working in community teams for people who have intellectual disabilities (ID) on the provision of psychological therapies to those with ID and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with seven clinical psychologists working across a large geographical area. Interviews concerned the accessibility and effectiveness of psychological therapies. These were transcribed and analysed thematically. Findings: Participants expressed concern about lack of access to mainstream services, the lack of visibility of their service and the suitability of the physical space to deliver therapy. They were positive about the effectiveness of therapy but emphasised the importance of adaptations and managing expectations. Research limitations/implications: There is a lack of research in this area, and further research is needed with service users to develop a fuller understanding of their needs. Practical implications: Consideration needs to be given on how to optimally deliver psychological therapies for this group. This will need services to become more flexible and focussed on the needs of this group of service users. Originality/value: This paper provides insights into the views of psychologists on providing psychological therapy to people who have autism and ID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Depression, physical health, well-being, sleep and physical activity are interlinked. Healthy levels of physical activity and effective night-time sleep can reduce depressive symptoms. In the context of their lives and symptoms of depression, this paper aims to understand participants' experiences of using a Fitbit, physical activity and sleep and the barriers and facilitators for healthy sleep and physical activity. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative methods were used to conduct interviews with 19 patients (4 male; 15 female) diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression undergoing transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment for depression. Reflexive thematic analysis was used. Findings: Healthy sleep and physical activity levels are interlinked and reduce depressive symptoms as well as improving well-being and physical health. A Fitbit is useful to enhance physical activity, self-awareness, motivation, healthier lifestyles and effective sleep. Barriers to healthy sleep and physical activity levels included depressive symptoms, environmental factors and anxieties. Facilitators for healthy sleep and physical activity levels included knowledge of the benefits, support from family and friends and applying sleep hygiene. Practical implications: There is a need to provide interventions using wearable activity trackers that build on the links between increased physical activity, improved sleep, enhanced well-being, better physical health and lower depressive symptoms. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that patients undergoing TMS have had their experiences of sleep, activity and using a Fitbit investigated and reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Research on caregivers' experiences of and perspectives on preparing young people to leave care in Africa is lacking. A clearer understanding of caregivers' practice and experience is important for developing improved care-leaving services. The aim of this study is to describe the experiences and perceptions of caregivers providing care-leaving services at one residential care institution in Addis Abba, Ethiopia. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative description research design was used to examine the perspectives of seven caregivers and three key informants concerning the preparation of female care-leavers for leaving care and their readiness to lead an adult life in Ethiopia. Participants were purposively selected and data were collected through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. The generated data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Caregivers are passionate about their work, seeing it more as a calling than as a job, and think of themselves as parents to the children. Most reported receiving at least some training, albeit informal or ad hoc, and faced challenges because of lack of resources. Regarding their preparation of the girls for leaving care, caregivers reported inadequate success in financial literacy and savings, continued schooling, cooking, cultural literacy and aftercare support. Originality/value: This study thus underscores the absence of a preparation for leaving care practice guideline and an independent policy that guides care-leaving in Ethiopia. Policy improvement on caregiving that recognises and values the complexity of the job of caregiving, and thus the need for greater education, is highly needed. This paper sheds light on the issue of supporting caregivers' attempt to mentor female care-leavers in Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]