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Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have rarely been used in evaluations of social work interventions with children in the UK. This article discusses the use of an RCT in the national evaluation of Multi-dimensional Treatment Foster Care for Adolescents (MTFC-A) in the English care system. A number of challenges were encountered in recruiting young people to the trial. These included professional anxieties about randomisation, concerns about accountability, a wish to maintain managerial control over allocations to expensive resources and the small number of MTFC-A places available in each local area, which meant that new placements became available infrequently. We discuss the challenges to the trial and the strategies developed to address these, including the adaptation of the design to take account of both professional concerns and of the particular circumstances of the children involved. Thirty-four children were eventually randomised either to an offer of an MTFC-A placement or to ‘treatment as usual’, an alternative placement selected by their social workers. A further 185 were included in the parallel observational arm of the study. Recommendations are made for the conduct of future trials in children's social care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work's potential role in preoperative evaluations was generally unheard of only 15 years ago, as it was considered the domain of direct health care professionals such as nurses and surgeons. Social workers have traditionally focused on the peri- and posttransplant phases. However, clinical social workers are playing an increasingly vital role in the care and psychosocial evaluation of potential kidney recipients and donors. Caring for and evaluating potential kidney recipients includes myriad unique clinical and personal challenges. This article's aim is to help clinicians gain a better clinical picture and assessment of people who choose to participate as kidney recipients by using a clinical interview protocol. Using this protocol with potential kidney recipients and their collaterals (family members, peer associates, clergy, and so forth) clarifies internal and external motivations and issues. Furthermore, using such a protocol can help clinicians ascertain potential barriers and obstacles that could interfere with a patient's compliance and can perhaps help clinicians deal with such obstacles in a more comprehensive manner. Finally, this article also attempts to illuminate the ethical complexities involved in choosing to be a potential kidney recipient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]