Search

Background Mothers who have children removed from their care often have complex needs. These women have poor health outcomes and are dying earlier than their peers from preventable and amenable causes. Yet there is little known about how health care services might mitigate these risks. This study aimed to listen to the voices of women who had children removed from their care to understand their experiences of health and healthcare. Methods We used a narrative approach to collect and analyse interview data with six mothers who had experienced child removal in England. Each participant was asked to reflect on their life and main health challenges. Results Three narrative subplots were developed to consolidate experiences of unmet health need: (i) 'on paper you're normal': narratives of complex need, (ii) 'in my family, everyone had issues': narratives of whole family need and (iii) 'I'm still mummy, no matter where they are': narratives of maternal identity and health. Conclusions Findings highlight limitations within current systems of support, including a culture of distrust and women falling between the gaps of services. Women's narratives illustrate opportunities for health intervention, especially immediately following child removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explore how hospitals can be reconfigured to adopt more 'health-promoting' approaches and values. Specifically, the paper focuses on the role of hospital chaplaincy and argues that spiritual care should be considered alongside other health domains. Using semi-structured interviews, the aim of the paper is to explore the experiences of patients who accepted (n = 10) and declined (n = 10) hospital chaplaincy services. Data were analysed drawing on principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings suggested that participants who accessed chaplaincy services reported using the chaplains for pastoral, religious and spiritual care which contributed positively to their sense of well-being. This included religious rituals and supportive conversations. The majority of these participants had existing links with a faith institution. Participants who declined chaplaincy services reported having personal religious or spiritual beliefs. Other reasons cited, included: that the offer was made close to discharge; they had different support mechanisms; they were unaware of what the chaplaincy service offered. Participants identified a number of skills and attributes they associated with chaplains. They perceived them as being religious but available to all, somebody to talk to who was perceived as impartial with a shared knowledge and understanding. The paper concludes by highlighting the important role of chaplaincy as part of a holistic health-promoting hospital. This has implications not only for the design, delivery and promotion of chaplaincy services but also for health promotion more broadly to consider spiritual needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There is a strong national drive within the UK government and National Health Service for social prescribing. Previous research studies have mainly focused on service user perspectives and evaluating their experiences. There is limited evidence on how the general public perceive and understand what social prescribing is and how these views could influence service planning and delivery. This paper seeks to understand perceptions of social prescribing within the wider community. Methods Semi-structured focus groups were conducted with 37 members of the public in four areas in north-west England. We explored public awareness and understanding of social prescribing. Results Limited knowledge of the term social prescribing was found amongst participants as well as limited involvement in community discussions of the topic. Concerns were raised about the short-term nature of activities and the need for adequate resourcing to support continuity of service provision. The social prescribing link worker was considered to be important in supporting engagement with services and it was preferred this role was undertaken by people with local knowledge. Conclusions The findings provide evidence of public perspectives on social prescribing and highlight how wider community perceptions can supplement service user feedback to support social prescribing service planning, commissioning and delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the implications of being a social worker seconded to a Mental Health Trust based on narrative interviews with mental health social workers. As part of a wider study, thirteen mental health social workers from across England were interviewed individually about their experiences of being seconded to a Mental Health Trust. Building on the work of Andrew Pithouse, the findings reveal the (in)visibility of mental health social work. The social workers were isolated within Health Trusts with minimal links to their local authority employers. They struggled to articulate and define social work. Instead, social work was depicted as being indefinable, involving working in liminal spaces and as filling the gaps left by other professions. Furthermore, the social workers were unable to make social work visible, as social work is not 'seen' by the other members of the team. Finally, the social workers were unable to make social visible through supervision if they did not have a social work manager. The paper ends with an unexpected outcome of the research: the notion of the research interview as surrogate supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The containment of infectious diseases is most successful when at-risk populations have a high level of relevant health literacy (HL). To achieve this both literacy needs and patterns of knowledge sharing must be understood within the context of the disease being studied. It is also important to understand these processes from both offline (HL) and online (eHL) perspectives and amongst demographics with access to different types of information and social capital, and who have different levels of vulnerability. This paper discusses the insights gained over a series of 30 interviews with the UK residents aged either 19 − 30 years of age or older than 70 years—focussing on how they seek, understand, evaluate and convey information about COVID-19 during the current pandemic. Using thematic analysis, we identified themes around motivations to seek information, the information journey, digital choice and engagement, dilemmas and challenges of managing and appraising information, and sharing information. There was little difference in the eHL between the two age groups who both had high levels of education and were sophisticated digital citizens. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights three dominant processes in managing complex and uncertain information: some individuals may suffer from information fatigue but there was no evidence of any impact on their behaviours; others seek and share information across many networks; and there were strikingly high levels of distrust leading to complex processes of meaning-making demanding critical health literacy skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, prisoners tend to come from marginalized and socially disadvantaged sections of the society and exhibit a high incidence of ill health, linked to social exclusion and multiple complex needs. Prisons therefore offer an important opportunity to tackle inequality and injustice, through promoting health, reducing reoffending and facilitating community reintegration.This paper reports on and critically discusses findings from an evaluative research study, which aimed to identify and explore impacts of prisoners' participation in an innovative social and therapeutic horticultural programme, 'Greener on the Outside for Prisons' (GOOP), delivered in prisons in North West England. Focus groups with 16 prisoners and semi-structured interviews with six prison staff were conducted at five sites. Presented under three overarching themes (health and well-being; skills development, employability, and work preparedness; and relationships), findings suggest that engagement with and participation in GOOP were important in improving positive mental well-being, increasing physical activity and knowledge about healthier eating; developing skills and work readiness; and building relationships and catalysing and strengthening prosocial behaviours, important for good citizenship and effective resettlement. The paper concludes that – in the context of the current UK prison reform agenda and concern about the high incidence of violence, substance misuse, self-harm and suicide – prison-based horticulture can offer multiple benefits and make a significant contribution to the creation of safe, secure, supportive and health-enhancing environments. Furthermore, it contends that by joining up health and justice agendas, programmes such as GOOP have the potential to serve as powerful catalysts for wider systemic change, thereby helping tackle inequalities and social exclusion within societies across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an original examination of the interrelationship between organisational arrangements, supervisory practices and outcomes from supervision in a study funded by the Social Care Institute for Excellence. The study aimed to capture examples of good supervision. Researchers used systems theory to develop a supervision model, which informed the research design and evaluation. Good supervision was identified by 136 online survey participants, and all emerging themes were examined in nineteen interviews, within four case study settings. Social workers within an 'integrated' case-study setting and health workers in a 'partnership' setting said that 'good' supervision was supported by organisational policies, supervisor training and devolved management and professional practice. In the care-home and social-enterprise settings, supervision was similarly supported, but its delivery was a management performance target. In all four case-study settings, good supervision could be negatively transformed by a supervisor's action (e.g. rigid responses to performance issues) or supervisor's inaction (e.g. cancelled supervision sessions). Service-user feedback on supervision is an underdeveloped area that needs further research. This paper concludes by considering the implications of the research findings for the study of supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult social care in England emphasises the service and support preferences of disabled and older people. Personal budgets play a central role in this development. Carers in England have also secured rights to assessment and support in their care-giving roles. However, these policies have developed largely separately, with little consideration of the interdependencies between disabled and older people and their carers. There is limited evidence detailing current practice. This paper explores current practice, particularly how far social care practitioners recognise and balance the needs and interests of service users and carers, especially those with cognitive and/or communication impairments. The paper reports findings from nine qualitative focus groups (forty-seven participants) conducted in 2012 with practitioners involved in service user personalisation and carer assessments from older people and learning disability teams across three English authorities. Findings indicate inconsistencies in practice. Although practitioners felt they sought to involve carers, practices varied between authorities, teams and colleagues in the same team. Clear and timely links between processes for service users and carers were absent. Practice was discussed most frequently around service user assessments; other stages of personalisation appeared ad hoc. Areas of confusion and tension are identified. Future policy and practice developments and challenges are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on the first national qualitative study to examine diversity and progression within social work programmes in England, focusing on the experiences of disabled, black and ethnic minority and lesbian, gay and bisexual students. Data collected from ninety-five students and twenty-three social work education providers across eight higher education institutions (HEIs) suggested an institutional effect on rates of progression, linked to the degree of orientation towards systemic change. The study found that social work educators tended to place more emphasis on 'equality of access' than 'equality of outcomes', resulting in a lack of focus on other aspects of the student life cycle such as inter-group dynamics and rates of progression through the programme and into employment. This paper highlights the importance of a 'transformational' organisational change approach to creating an institutional culture where students from minority groups feel welcome and can thrive. Leadership, monitoring and an institution-wide sense of collective responsibility for diversity and equality policy implementation emerged as key to creating a more inclusive environment, alongside equipping staff to take a pro-active role in facilitating high-quality, respectful interaction between different members of the HEI community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an exploration of a dilemma that is central to the place of day centres in tackling single homelessness and raises issues for social work more generally. On the one hand, day centres provide vital services to a vulnerable group in a safe, non-threatening and non-judgemental setting; on the other hand, in doing so, they are believed to impede opportunities for personal change. The paper draws on findings from a research study which compared and contrasted the priorities of single homeless people with multiple support needs with the priorities of support services, exploring the role of encounters between service users and agencies in either overcoming or reinforcing multiple exclusion homelessness. This paper focuses on evidence about the use of day centres. It seeks to draw on theological insights to explore day centres as ‘places of sanctuary’ whose largely unconditional accessibility enables them to serve as both a last refuge for the victims of multiple rejection and a safe place to confront the past. This paper will take the debate about conditionality in welfare provision beyond the field of homelessness to address one of the oldest dilemmas of social work: how to facilitate change while respecting people's free agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers in adult social care are at particular risk of job-related stress, although the contribution of different organisational and policy changes to this phenomenon is subject to debate. This paper explores a theoretical framework from the occupational psychology literature (the Job Demand/Control Model) to identify the characteristics of those most at risk of stress, in a sample of 249 social workers and other care managers working in English adult social services from the Individual Budget (IB) pilots. It finds that it is the particular combination of high work pressures, with a lack of control over decision making and resources needed to do the work, that are detrimental to job satisfaction. The study also finds that staff involved in delivering IBs were over twice as likely to be at risk of stress compared to those without any IB holders on their caseload. In-depth interviews with forty-eight care managers identified widespread complaints of additional pressures relating to IBs, but also the possibility that these may lessen as the policy evolves. The paper concludes that the Job Demand/Control Model is a helpful framework for evaluating the job-related impact of social work changes, particularly when part of a multi-methods approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landscape for social work is continually changing and working with asylum seekers remains a highly charged and contested area of practice. This paper compares the role of social workers working with asylum seekers in statutory and voluntary-sector settings in the UK. Institutional practices suggest a divide between statutory settings and charitable organisations. However, based on empirical qualitative research and in-depth interviews with thirty-four social workers in Scotland and the south-east of England that explored dominant discourses influencing their practice, we suggest considerable similarities in the different sectors. Austerity measures for local authorities (LA) and voluntary agencies have resulted in the closure of specialist teams and reduced funding for social workers. Findings highlight politicised dominant narratives when working with asylum seekers and we argue for alternatives that promote a more nuanced perspective of entitlement and human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were in early development when fieldwork took place. Public Health (PH) was moving into the local authority, and new ways of working were being established. Methods Three qualitative case studies in the North of England were undertaken using three different data collection methods: observations, interviews and the collection of documents that were related to the project. Comprehensive field notes were taken during observations, analysed alongside interview transcriptions and collected documentation using the software programme Atlas.ti. Results The relationship between the CCG and their local PH team was in development at the time of data collection. Three different PH roles could be discerned from the data: 'co-owner', 'service provider' and 'critical friend'. These roles impacted on the utilization of PH by CCGs and the wider relationship between the CCG and PH. Conclusions These models are 'ideal types', and in reality the CCG-PH relationship in most areas will contain elements of all three models. However, to think of them as set out in this paper is instructive for both CCGs and PH. It is important that CCGs and their PH colleagues to think clearly about what they are trying to achieve and how that can most effectively work together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use of part-time fostering as a means to support families with social care support needs. It is based on a qualitative case study of the support care service. Support care is a supportive intervention for families at risk of breakdown and long-term separation. The service attempts to forge positive relationships with parents and provides short breaks for children and young people. The service aims to be flexible and responsive to individual needs, but is time-limited, with typical intervention periods lasting between six and twelve months. Three support care schemes participated in the research and ten placements were followed for their duration. Eighty-two individual interviews were conducted and data were collected from twenty-two participant observation sessions. The aim of the research was to examine the 'doing' of support care. This included exploring stakeholder experiences, the aims and outcomes associated with the service, together with attempts to facilitate family change. The paper considers the advantages and contradictions inherent in this form of family support. Key aspects are related to broader considerations of family support services including the effectiveness of time-limited interventions and competing social work demands to support families as well as safeguard children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extending choice and control to the users of publicly funded services is a cornerstone in the personalisation agenda. It is assumed that giving service users greater choice and control will promote users' independence. As service users are increasingly given the responsibility to determine their support, social work practitioners need to work differently with service users in order to provide personalised support in exercising choice. This requires practitioners having a nuanced understanding of people's concepts of independence, how people make choices about support services and how those choices can impact on their perceived independence in the longer term. This paper reports new findings from a longitudinal qualitative study of choice and control over the life course in England. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with fifty adults and older people experiencing fluctuating support needs and/or a sudden deterioration in health. The paper discusses the relationships between choice and independence as experienced by disabled and older people. The findings show that independence is not a fixed concept, but is relative and multidimensional. There are multiple relationships between the choices people make and the consequences of those choices for people's subjective views of their independence. The paper concludes by highlighting the implications of findings for the role of social work practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the experiences of predominantly black minority ethnic (BME) students navigating their way from further education (FE) college Access courses to undergraduate social work programmes. It discusses tensions associated with balancing academic and professional entry requirements for social work education with principles of social justice enshrined in policy to widen participation to higher education (HE) and to the professions for those from less privileged social backgrounds. Drawing upon her doctoral study (Dillon, 2010a, 2010b) and insights from social reproduction, life course development and critical race theories, the author argues that entry to social work education is not without problems for some students. The central contention of this paper is that increased competition for social work education places and an overemphasis on academic qualifications and credentials may have had some unintended consequences for less privileged students, but particularly for BME students. The introduction of new national social work admission criteria giving equal weighting to academic and non-academic skills related to life course experiences and other ‘softer skills’ denoting personal suitability for social work is advocated to address this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background and Objectives Arts activities can improve social connectedness and foster reciprocity between people living with dementia and their caregivers. The extent to which the arts can help shape attitudes towards dementia remains unclear. This paper explores the impact of a 12-week visual arts program "Dementia and Imagination" on the attitudes of family and professional caregivers through a mixed-methods longitudinal investigation, underpinned by a conceptual framework of the arts in dementia care. Research Design and Methods One hundred and forty-six family and professional caregivers were recruited across three settings in England and Wales (residential care homes, a county hospital, and community venues). Quantitative and qualitative data on caregivers' attitudes and perceptions of the impact of the arts program were collected through interviews at three time points. Results Thematic analysis identified four themes shared across the caregivers: (1) Recognizing capabilities , (2) Social connectedness , (3) Improvements to well-being , and (4) Equality and personhood. Two further themes were distinct to family caregivers: (5) Duration of the effects of the art program , and (6) Enriched perspective. The final theme Inspiring professional development was distinct to the professional caregivers. The quantitative analysis found no effect for caregivers' attitude change over time. Family caregivers scored significantly lower than professional caregivers at each of the three time points. Discussion and Implications Art programs have the potential to make visible the capabilities of the people living with dementia, enabling caregivers to see the person behind the condition. This study highlights practice implications for future implementation, such as the role of the arts in dementia care education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of a study identifying the experiences of gay and lesbian adopters and foster-carers in England and Wales. Qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty-four lesbians and gay men who had undertaken any part of the adoption or fostering application process since the implementation of the Adoption and Children Act of 2002. The study suggests that, whilst increasing numbers of lesbians and gay men are accessing fostering and adoption services, gender and sexuality are still problematic areas of contestation within this context. As a result, participants were required to present themselves to assessing professionals in distinct ways, in order to be recognised as 'legitimate' in their applications. Using the concept of 'displaying family', this paper illustrates the ways in which sexuality can complicate such displays, as they fall outside prevailing cultural and familial scripts. However, taking an intersectional perspective, this paper will also demonstrate that this was dependent upon the complex subjectivities of each participant. Finally, it will analyse what this means for the assessment of gay and lesbian adopters and foster-carers, and how social workers can respond to both individual identities and diverse family forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into child and family social work has largely stopped short of getting close enough to practice to produce understandings of what goes on between social workers and service users. This is despite the known problems in social worker engagement with children in cases where they have died. This paper outlines and analyses the methods used in a study of social work encounters with children and families on home visits where there were child protection concerns. It illustrates how mobile methods of walking and driving interviews were conducted with social workers on the way to and from home visits, and how the ethnography involved participant observation and audio-recordings of the interactions between social workers, children and parents in the home, revealing the talk, actions and experiences that occurred. Social workers often moved around the home, especially to interview children on their own in their bedrooms, and the paper shows how ways were found to stay close enough to observe these sensitive encounters within families' most intimate spaces, while ensuring the research remained ethical. Ethnographic and mobile methods produce vital data that advance new understandings of everyday social work practices and service users' experiences and of dynamics that are similar to breakdowns in practice that have occurred in child death cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a sample of ninety-three child welfare workers' perceptions of emotional relations in risk assessment situations.Workers from England, Norway and California (USA) are interviewed about risk factors in a vignette. Seventy-three per cent of the total workers identify the emotional issues described in the vignette as a risk factor, but a lower percentage of the American workers do so. Nearly all of these workers identify the mother's lack of meeting her daughter's emotional needs as a risk factor; however, the analysis shows that only approximately one-third of these workers elaborate on the possibleconsequencesandreasons for this lack of attachment. Evenfewersuggest services that can improvethe situation.Thefindings suggest thatemotional issues havea relatively low importance in a risk assessment situation but that there are differences by country. Although the sample is small, it is likely that systemic factors in the child welfare system and the risk assessment approach explain some of these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the findings from an English research study using an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis methodology with service users of the Unified Adolescent Team (UAT) that was carried out in 2009. The UAT worked with adolescents between the ages of twelve and twenty and who had complex needs which led them to be identified as a 'hard to reach group'. The research identifies three super-ordinate themes that reflect the their experiences of receiving services from the UAT: in crisis and out of control, new helping relationships and building new lives. This paper discusses these findings and contextualises the work of the UAT with in the existing literature on positive engagement with this client group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on qualitative research with eighty participants, this paper examines the notion of support planning, as it was experienced by people using personal budgets. The research took place during 2009–10, in three demonstration sites in England where support planning was commissioned out from local authorities into user-led organisations. In general, satisfaction with user-led support planning revolved around respectful styles of facilitation, good listening skills and the expertise brought by the experience of disabled people themselves. However, it was found that different styles of support planning were effective for different people, depending on several factors relating to their life experience, the length of time they had been disabled, the availability of family support and their connection with other disabled people. Whether social services or voluntary-sector staff are facilitating support plans, we conclude that some people need more help initially with support planning than others, and that a good model should differentiate and be flexible, to allow people to move towards independent planning at their own pace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Work Practices (SWPs) were established in England in 2009 to deliver social work services to looked after children and care leavers. The introduction of independent social work-led organisations generated controversy focused on issues such as the privatisation of children's services and social workers' conditions of employment. This paper reports early findings from the evaluation of four of these pilots, drawing on interviews with children and young people, staff, and local authority and national stakeholders. The SWPs assumed a variety of organisational forms. The procurement process was demanding, with protracted negotiations over matters such as budgetary control and providing a round-the-clock service. Start-up was facilitated by an established relationship between the SWP provider and the local authority. Once operational, SWPs continued to rely on local authorities for various functions; in most cases, local authorities retained control of placement budgets. Levels of consultation and choice offered to children and young people regarding the move to an SWP varied considerably. Children's understanding about SWPs was generally low except in the pilot where most children retained their original social worker. These early findings show some dilution of the original SWP model, while the pilots' diversity allows the benefits of particular models to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how social workers can communicate effectively using an interpreter. It examines how child and family practitioners describe their experiences of working with interpreters and uses audio recordings of home visits to analyse how the challenges they describe manifest in practice. The analysis is based on audio recordings of nineteen interpreter-mediated meetings between workers and families, and two focus groups with practitioners. Recordings were categorised using quantitative coding, and data were analysed thematically. Although workers find using an interpreter challenging, in practice, skilled practitioners are able to work effectively providing they adopt an assertive approach. This is characterised by clarifying misunderstandings, involving the client in ‘chit-chat’ to build rapport and, where clients have differing levels of language proficiency, conducting the conversation entirely in the native language. The study demonstrates the centrality of social worker skills in managing interpreter-mediated sessions and improving practice for non-native-speaking families. This has implications for social work practice internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although under-researched and under-theorized compared to other settings, there is potential for the family setting to be harnessed to support the development of healthy children and societies and to reduce health inequalities. Within this setting, the role of fathers as health facilitators has yet to be fully understood and considered within health promotion. This paper draws on a two year evaluation of a community embedded intervention for fathers and children in an area of multiple deprivation in North West England. The evaluation integrated a variety of qualitative methods within a participatory evaluation framework to help understand the development and impact of a programme of work co-created by a social enterprise and fathers from within the community. Findings suggest that allowing fathers to define their own concerns, discover solutions to these and design locally appropriate ways to share these solutions can result in significant change for them, their children and the wider community. The key to this process is the provision of alternative spaces where fathers feel safe to share the substantial difficulties they are experiencing. This improved their confidence and had a positive impact on their relationships with their children and with significant others around them. However, this process required patience, and a commitment to trusting that communities of men can co-create their own solutions and generate sustainable success. We suggest that commissioning of services delivered 'to' people could be replaced, or supplemented, by commissioning appropriate organisations to work with communities to co-create solutions to the needs they themselves have recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing numbers of developed welfare states now operate cash-for-care schemes in which service users are offered cash payments in place of traditional social services. Such schemes raise concerns about the extent to which they include and support carers. This paper aims to explore some of these issues through an analysis of a cash-for-care initiative piloted in England in 2005–07: the Individual Budgets (IBs) pilot projects. The paper reports the findings of an evaluation of the impact and outcomes of IBs for carers through analyses of qualitative interviews with IB lead officers, carers' lead officers and carers of IB holders; and analyses of structured outcome interviews with carers of IB holders and carers of people in receipt of conventional social care services. The evaluation found that, despite their primary aim of increasing choice and control for the service user, IBs had a positive impact on carers of IB holders. The findings are important in that they have implications for the widespread roll-out of Personal Budgets in England and may also provide wider valuable lessons nationally and internationally about the tensions between policies to support carers and policies aimed at promoting choice and control by disabled and older people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes an innovative systems methodology for evaluating child protection social work practice and improving organisational learning. It draws on learning in other high-risk areas where the importance of understanding performance in context has been recognised. Using a case study for illustration, the methodology is presented. This evaluative approach engages management, staff, service users and other stakeholders in assessing the factors that influence practice and outcomes. The data collection tools developed included surveys to reach staff, multi-agency professionals and service users, together with in-depth interviews to get a deep understanding of causal factors and their interactions. Data included organisational cultural factors that influence the effectiveness of decision making, improve patterns of interaction with families and other professionals, remove constraints on practice, help prioritisation and improve consistency of care. The paper discusses some of the practical implications of applying the instruments, such as avoiding bias and dealing with unresponsiveness. It also supports the gathering of feedback from vulnerable service users. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents findings from a Department of Health-funded study into the emotional well-being of young people seeking asylum on their own in the UK. It discusses how young people accounted for only partly disclosing information about the circumstances surrounding their quest for asylum and subsequent aspects of their lives since arriving in the UK. Foucault's panoptic mechanism and its focus on the effects of power as dispersed through scrutiny are applied as a theoretical framework to contextualise these experiences. The paper shows that young people's decisions about how much of their current or past lives they share with others are more complex than indicated by earlier research. The paper argues that, for many young people, the predominant impetus for selective disclosure was a desire to retain a degree of agency as they navigated their way through immigration, asylum, social care, health and education systems and simultaneously sought to establish themselves in the social world. These findings have implications for how social care (and other) professionals engage and work with young people seeking asylum alone. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rationales for involving service users and carers in professional health and social work education tend to derive from arguments of empowerment, consumer rights and/or improvement in service outcomes. In the UK, these rationales are now firmly embedded, and involvement is increasingly expected in all aspects of training, but little literature exists describing or evaluating the impact of involvement outside teaching activities. This paper describes the approach to involvement in admissions interviews in the social work and clinical psychology programmes at the University of Birmingham. It reports the results of a post hoc survey into the experiences and expectations of the 2007–08 cohorts of successful applicants and interview-panel members from each programme, with the aims of highlighting underlying rationales and informing future practice. Survey respondents tended to focus on outcome-based rationales rather than value-based ones in support of involvement. Impact on the selection process was cited by many as important, but service user and carer visibility to applicants may be a more significant outcome. Disagreements among panel members were uncommon, but did raise some training and procedural issues. To be meaningful, the rationale(s) for involvement should be clearly articulated at the outset and the mode(s) of involvement should reflect this. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores non-legal spaces in which the right to health is invoked. Consideration is given to the potential for creating spaces in which people who are mobile can access health care services, as well as engage with services and activities related to the underlying determinants of health in order to overcome inequities in health. The aims of the research were to explore: service user and provider perceptions of the right to health; the role of individual and collective agency in a partnership approach to health; and the development of a framework of sites for health rights. Interviews and participatory diagramming and visualization were conducted with service users and providers and participant observation was undertaken at two hostels. It was found that there needs to be greater clarity of entitlements for service users as well as responsibilities for those with a duty to protect, respect, and fulfil the right to health. As public space becomes more regulated, hostels are becoming one of the few places which homeless people can transform to use as sites for addressing violations of health rights, for self-advocating for health rights, and for engaging with services advocating on their behalf. It is necessary to ensure that spaces in which the right to health can be invoked are acceptable and appropriate to those who seek to claim the right to health in these spaces. Where the spaces are unacceptable or inappropriate, the spaces can become sites against rights, rather than sites for rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This recruitment of international social workers (ISWs) in England has been primarily aimed at 'plugging the gaps' in the child protection services. This paper reports on one aspect of a qualitative research project investigating the post-arrival integration, professional practice and development of 'international social workers', namely those trained and qualified outside of the UK working in London and the Home Counties. Findings demonstrate that, as well as being a challenging professional and work experience, this form of labour mobility is a profound life event for most ISWs and, as with human migration in other fields and countries, entails a complex social, emotional and cultural transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Sustaining public health programmes in the long-term is key to ensuring full manifestation of their intended benefits. Although an increasing interest in sustainability is apparent within the global literature, empirical studies from within the European setting are few. The factors that influence sustainability are generally conceptualized at three levels: programme level, the immediate context and the wider environment. To-date attention has focused primarily on the former two. Using a community-based child injury prevention programme in England as an exemplar, this paper explores the concept of sustainability within the wider policy environment, and considers the impact of this on local programmes. Methods A content review of global and UK national public health policies (1981-2014) relevant to child safety was undertaken. Interviews were held with senior representatives of global and UK agencies involved in developing child safety policy. Results Forty-nine policies were reviewed. The term 'sustain', or its derivatives, featured in 36 (73%) of these. Its' use however, related primarily to conservation of resources rather than continued programme operation. Potential mechanisms for supporting programme sustainability featured within some documents; however, the approach to sustainability was inconsistent between policies and over time. Policy stakeholders identified programme sustainability as relevant to their core business, but its' conceptualization varied according to individual interpretation. Conclusions Programme sustainability is poorly addressed within global and UK-based public health policy. Strengthening a national and international policy focus on sustainability and incorporating sustainability into public health planning frameworks may create a more supportive environment for local programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014, research was undertaken to examine social workers' confidence, understanding and awareness of child sexual abuse (CSA) as it was suggested that a decline in numbers of reported incidents might be due to a decline in levels of understanding and awareness. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-five first-line, middle and senior managers and two chairs of local safeguarding boards across six local authorities in England. Focus groups were conducted with fifty-four social workers. Key themes revealed a complex array of issues, ranging from the diverse forms of CSA and exploitation that social workers are required to address, the variable support and training available, and the inter-disciplinary nature of much of the work. Although social workers undertake this important work with a strong sense of commitment and concern for children, they face a number of challenges. Paradoxically, whilst their work on these cases is the source of intense scrutiny, the training, support and supervision, and role clarity required to undertake this work well are often overlooked. The aim of this paper is to discuss the research findings and to identify implications for social work practice, training, multi-agency work and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature and quality of social work decision making have been highlighted in recent years by a number of high-profile child deaths. Recognising and assessing child abuse is be set with uncertainties and complexities that profoundly shape practice yet are often overlooked by moreofficialanddistancedaccounts.Thispaperdrawsonethnographicdatafroma study of social workers' decision making to uncover some of the issues they faced in gathering and assessing information. Workers faced problems with inaccurate or incomplete information, poorly defined situations, time pressures and heavy workloads. The paper draws attention to the ways in which the team organised itself to manage these issues which could provide a better understanding of how everyday decision making can be supported and improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spring 2012, the first cohort of trainees (n = 168) qualified as social workers through a new English fast-track, employer-led programme: Step Up to Social Work (SUSW). This paper reports findings from a survey of this first cohort undertaken in 2014. Of the 145 approached, 138 responded (95 per cent response rate). Survey responses were analysed using SPSS version 21 and the free-text responses were explored thematically using the Framework approach. Of the 130 respondents who started working in children's social work departments on qualification, 106 were still employed in such settings two and a half years later and 76 were working where they had trained. Of the 115 respondents working in England as social workers at the time of the survey, just under a third were intending to stay for the next year while over half were planning to stay in their current post for between one and four years. These data provide the first indications of the employment and career intentions of this first cohort of SUSW graduates. In light of further investment in England in fasttrack training, these findings provide a baseline. They suggest ways for those delivering new training routes to consider graduates' perspectives and experiences and provide the opportunity to begin to measure the effectiveness of the route on retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very few UK studies make use of longitudinal general population data to explore social service contact for children and young people. Those that do only look at specific interventions such as care placements. This paper seeks to address this gap by asking to what extent do structural, neighbourhood, familial and individual characteristics predict social service contact. We provide an empirical answer by analysing the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England, which includes data on social service contact in connection with young people's behaviour. Our findings indicate that social class, gender, ethnicity, step-family status and special education needs are all significant predictors of social service contact. Difficult parent-child relationships, frequent arguments and parents' lack of engagement with school meetings also matter, as does young people's own risk-taking behaviour. We conclude with a discussion of the limitation of the data for social work research and the implications of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Social Work Reform Board's changes were implemented to improve the professional standards and reputation of social work in England. However, the government is already reviewing both social work education and social work practice even as the reforms are implemented. The aim of this paper is to explore whether the dilemmas of social work education and practice are linked to a fundamental debate about the nature and future of contemporary social work. A qualitative case study of a social work degree programme in England was completed after ethical approval was given. Data were collected at two different points in time by means of interviews and focus groups. A total of forty-eight participants contributed to the study. A thematic analysis was adopted. The findings suggested there were a number of conflicts or contradictions with in the degree which were reflected in qualified social work practice. The contribution of this study is to the current discussions about qualifying education and social work practice. Its key message is that the contradictions of qualifying education, practice and models of social work reflect the debates a bout the nature and purpose of contemporary social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the notion of 'dirty work' in relation to the newly created role of the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP). An AMHP undertakes various duties set out in the 1983 Mental Health Act, as amended by the 2007 Act, in relation to assessments to make applications for compulsory admission to psychiatric hospital. It has been argued that undertaking this social control function is 'dirty work'. However, the findings from a study of social work AMHPs in England suggest that the picture is more complex. Extracts from narrative interviews are analysed using dialogical narrative analysis. Rather than being designated as dirty work, AMHP duty was presented as prestigious and as advanced social work. However, through their storytelling, the social workers clearly delineated the aspects of AMHP work that they did designate as dirty, specifically the lack of beds, the complexities of coordination and the emotional labour which is an inherent part of the work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been substantial research on the implementation of personal budgets across adult social care in England, but relatively little exploration of take-up within the field of mental health--and whether personal budgets are providing an effective mechanism for service users to exercise greater power, choice and control in their lives. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with fifty-two people using mental-health-related social care services and twenty-eight social work and other practitioners, undertaken for a national study in 2010-13, this paper explores experiences from their different perspectives. Inter-views were undertaken in three English local authorities which were at different stages of implementing personal budgets in mental health social care. Data were analysed using an Interpretive Framework Approach. The findings provide evidence of how personal budgets may deliver opportunities for people to take more power and control, sometimes collaboratively with practitioners, and also identify some of the barriers and challenges which can militate against such outcomes. A key factor in enabling personal budgets to support empowerment and recovery was reported to be the quality and continuity of the professional relationship--which raises particular implications for the organisation of mental health social work and the organisational cultures within which this is situated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Previous studies have demonstrated positive outcomes from a range of pharmacy public health services, but barriers to delivery remain. This paper explores the processes of delivering an alcohol screening and intervention service, with a view to improving service delivery. Methods A mixed-methods, multi-perspective approach was used, comprising in-pharmacy observations and recording of service provision, follow-up interviews with service users and interactive feedback sessions with service providers. Results Observations and recordings indicate that staff missed opportunities to offer the service and that both availability and delivery of the service were inconsistent, partly owing to unavailability of trained staff and service restrictions. Most service users gave positive accounts of the service and considered pharmacies to be appropriate places for this service. Respondents also described positive impacts, ranging from thinking more about alcohol consumption generally to substantial reductions in consumption. Key facilitators to service provision included building staff confidence and service champions. Barriers included commissioning issues and staff perception of alcohol as a sensitive topic. Conclusions Findings support expansion of pharmacies' role in delivering public health services and highlight benefits of providing feedback to pharmacy staff on their service provision as a possible avenue for service improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is substantial common ground between the ideas of self-directed support and recovery, there are also significant differences in how these ideas have been implemented in policy and practice. This paper develops an 'ideal type' model of how personal budgets may need to be set up for people with mental health difficulties if they are to be effective as a mechanism that can enable recovery. Aspects of this 'ideal type' model are then examined in relation to the reported experiences of people accessing personal budgets from a national study of the implementation of personal budgets in mental health in England. In-depth qualitative interviews were undertaken across three local authority areas with fifty-three people with serious mental health difficulties who had accessed personal budgets in 2012-13. Our findings suggest that personal budgets can support recovery thinking and processes, and can be used to mobilise relevant resources to make this possible. Key to achieving this can be co-productive and/or peer-supported processes of assessment and planning. In addition, resource allocation may need to be flexible to take account of fluctuating levels of mental distress, and budgets should be linked to recovery goals rather than assuming long-term care needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the issues raised by social work students failing in practice learning settings from the perspective of university tutors, by drawing on existing literature in this area from social work and nursing, as well as findings from a small-scale empirical qualitative study. The qualitative study was influenced by practitioner-researcher and practice-near paradigms, and is based on interviews with twelve social work tutors in England. The findings reveal that tutors are able to articulate the important tasks and functions of their roles when issues of failing students in practice learning settings arise, although the process can be challenging. The challenges include: supporting practice educator and student, concerns about other tutors' practices, the difficulties in promoting appropriate professional standards and values within higher education contexts, and frustrations with practice educators and placements. Only a third of the respondents (four), however, articulated their gate-keeping roles and responsibilities, although this was not without its difficulties. Given the current reforms in social work education in England at this present time, with greater emphasis on threshold standards at entry level and at key stages throughout the programme of study, the research is timely in terms of the critical consideration of the tutor role and challenges inherent in promoting appropriate standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research studies and serious case reviews following child deaths often criticise social work practitioners for failing to maintain a focus on the child. This paper draws on findings from a qualitative study of child protection planning in cases of chronic child neglect to increase understanding as to why this is the case. Four key themes that appear to affect social work practice are explored. These are: generalised assessments prior to conference; a narrow interpretation of the identity of a child; superficial engagement by professionals with the wishes and feelings of the child throughout the planning process; a lack of awareness of the different needs of siblings in large families; and parenting interventions considered in a vacuum. The authors argue that part of the reason social workers have found child-centred practice in these cases difficult is a consequence of the way in which the neglected child appears to be constructed. They conclude by considering how the latest English government guidance Working Together at one level exacerbates the issue whilst also providing opportun ities for innovative practice designed to focus on the daily lived experience of the child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing evidence that many homeless people have multiple and complex needs but are excluded from social work support. The data on which this pa per draws a re part of a study investigating service interfaces and interprofessional working that took place in three areas of England in 2009-11. This paper reports and discusses the ways in which some social workers employed in statutory and voluntary agencies work with people with risks of and experiences of homelessness. The findings reveal that social workers recognise and make efforts to minimise the risks of homelessness by seeking to enhance people's ability to survive adverse circumstances. Other social work practice involves responding to the needs of people who are homeless and who have possible entitlements for social care. Social work practice with people with multiple exclusions may be more visible in the voluntary sector than the statutory sector, meaning that social work skills may therefore seem less available to people with homelessness experiences or at risk of homelessness than is the case. There may be scope for the profession to articulate more clearly the potential for social work support to improve outcomes for people at risk of homelessness or with experiences of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based upon the findings of a qualitative study of how child protection social workers and social work managers analyse referrals. The study involved interviews with eighteen participants based on four vignettes of children potentially at risk of emotional, physical or sexual abuse or neglect. Three themes in particular are discussed-the balancing of risk, protective and resilience factors; the use of family history and the child's wider circumstances; and 'known' and 'unknown' unknowns ('missing information'). These findings are considered in relation to the potential use of actuarial risk assessment tools or Structured Decisions Making tools in child protection social work. The first of two conclusions is that when given adequate space and time the participants tended to be to be reflective and analytical, but that difficulties remained in their ability to analyse the referrals, in particular with the identification of protective or resilience factors and in the balancing of risk and protective or resilience factors in relation to individual children. The second conclusion is that social workers and managers may benefit from assistance in identifying protective and resilience factors (and distinguishing between protective factors and resilience factors) in particular and this may offer a focus for the introduction of structured tools as a way to support current practice rather than to replace it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a general dearth of social work studies in relation to suicide and very little is known about the characteristics of social work service users who are also suicidal. This paper is based on secondary analysis of the survey 'Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Study in England 2007'. Results showed that (i) social work contact in the previous twelve months was significantly associated with lifetime suicide attempt; (ii) various risk and protective factors help to explain the relationship between suicide attempt and social work contact. Non-suicidal self-harm was found to be associated with suicide attempt, both with and without social work contact. Drug dependency was associated with social work contact, regardless of suicide attempt history. Other variables affected certain aspects of the relationship between social work contact and suicidality. These included age, religion, income, employment and background in local authority care. The implications for social work provision are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports children's, young people's and parents' perspectives on birth family contact from interviews conducted across eleven local authorities in England between 2009 and 2012 as part of the national evaluation of Social Work Practice (SWP) pilots: independent organisations providing social work support for looked after children and care leavers. The matched control evaluation, reported fully elsewhere ( Stanley et al., 2013), showed most children and young people interviewed in both SWP and comparison sites felt they had the 'right' amount of contact with the 'right' members of their birth families. Factors found to be key to child and parental satisfaction with contact include: involvement in decision making; speed of social work response; resolution of practical problems; provision of information and emotional support; and investment in building relationships. Evaluation of the SWPs demonstrated progress over time in increasing satisfaction with contact for some young people and some parents also reported improvements, but progress was not uniform and good practice was also evident in comparison sites. Regardless of the organisational model adopted, social work which increases children's, young people's and families' satisfaction with contact arrangements requires an ethic of care, a rights-based approach and access to resources, such as worker time and transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers employed within statutory settings in countries such as the UK are subject to legal and policy requirements to communicate directly and effectively with children and young people. Qualifying social work education is expected to prepare students so that they can practice competently. However, in England at least, practice and education are both falling short. While active attention is now being given to ways of facilitating improvements in practice, almost nothing is known about how qualifying courses might best promote student learning. This paper reports some of the findings from a UK-based empirical study into factors and processes which support students in developing the self-efficacy and 'applied understanding' they need to undertake effective direct work with children. A superficial focus on the 'doing' of communication (techniques and skills) appears to be inadequate: courses must additionally provide a range of experiential, participatory, didactic and critically reflective learning opportunities which can enable deep learning of the underpinning knowledges, ethical commitments and personal qualities also needed. A model is presented of an integrated and coherent learning sequence which could be used by programmes to ensure students develop the necessary generic, child-centred and 'applied child-specialist' capabilities in communication with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work supervision is receiving renewed attention internationally with calls for it to be remodelled and given greater priority, this paper uses data from a longitudinal study in England, which involved: three online surveys of Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs); an online survey of Directors and face-to-face interviews with 23 social work managers which enabled us to investigate the receipt of supervision and its provision. Data on the frequency of supervision were analysed in relation to other job-related factors reported by NQSWs alongside information on NQSWs' views of the content of supervision. Findings suggest a tapering of supervision for social workers as they become more experienced but the overall level of supervision appears to be both limited and variable. NQSWs appreciated supervision from managers, and this affects their engagement with their work. Managers reported pressures of time in providing sufficient supervision. Directors conveyed their perception of the importance of supervision but indicated that there may be blurring of supervision as more structured support for NQSWs becomes part of the requirements for those in their first year in the profession. Greater attention should be given to investigating the effectiveness of supervision and to the support of those managers who are expected to provide it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a service evaluation of a city-wide Advocacy Rights Hub, based in a northern-English city, as a vehicle to explore the shift in welfare provision away from regulated state welfare to the deregulated voluntary sector in circumstances of diminishing welfare resources in the UK. It focuses on two significant trends relating to welfare that are exposed through the evaluation. The first is how social policies are increasingly directed away from addressing the needs of the socially excluded in low-income communities. The second and related issue is how these policy trends have led to the ascendency of advocacy and shrinking of statutory social work. It will reveal the inability of statutory social workers to act as advocates and reach out to the socially excluded, and how the contested territory of advocacy lays bare the increasing erosion of social work's professional values and principles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]