Elaine Sharland

Where are we now? Strengths and limitations of UK social work and social care research

In 2008, the UK Economic and Social Research Council called for ‘fundamental step change’ in breadth, depth and quality of UK social work and social care research. This paper reports some of the findings from the ESRC Strategic Adviser for Social Work and Social Care initiative, focusing on the appraisal of the existing strengths and deficits of the research field. Discussion begins with highlighting some of the challenges of identifying and characterising both social work and social care research, explaining how these were addressed. It then outlines thematically the core substantive and methodological strengths and limitations of the field identified by key informants from social work and cognate disciplines, drawing attention to disciplinary and interdisciplinary distinctiveness and synergies. Discussion concludes with pointers to the way forward for research growth and excellence, with the argument that a commitment to developing social work and social care research is all the more crucial in times of economic austerity and challenges to social welfare and wellbeing.

The Creation of the European Social Work Research Association.

As the social work profession matures, the need for robust knowledge becomes more pressing. Greater coordination is required to develop the research community and an infrastructure to support this nationally and internationally. This article discusses the foundation, in 2014, of the European Social Work Research Association and its roots in the annual European Conference for Social Work Research series since 2011. Discussion focuses on the Association’s context and aims, its principles, developments, and future plans. The initial development of the Association has been very encouraging; it has attracted over 250 members in its initial months, including individuals from 19 of 28 European Union countries, and 3 of 23 European non-EU countries, as well as six countries outside Europe. Continuing efforts are required to encompass the diversity of practice, organization and research, and for the Association to be truly inclusive of social work research and researchers across the whole of Europe.

Social care research: a suitable case for systematic review?

This article examines how systematic reviews might best address social care research. In the context of broader methodological debate, it draws on recent first-hand experience of undertaking systematic reviews in this field, to propose that research inclusion, quality assessment and synthesis should be guided by certain key characteristics of social care knowledge, research and practice. It explores the potential of the TAPUPAS framework, developed by Pawson and colleagues (2003) to address qualities of social care knowledges in general, for informing and moving forward our thinking about systematic reviews of social care research in particular.

The effects of social service contact on teenagers in England

Objective: This study investigated outcomes of social service contact during teenage years. Method: Secondary analysis was conducted of the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (N = 15,770), using data on reported contact with social services resulting from teenagers’ behavior. Outcomes considered were educational achievement and aspiration, mental health, and locus of control. Inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment was used to estimate the effect of social service contact. Results: There was no significant difference between those who received social service contact and those who did not for mental health outcome or aspiration to apply to university. Those with contact had lower odds of achieving good exam results or of being confident in university acceptance if sought. Results for locus of control were mixed. Conclusions: Attention is needed to the role of social services in supporting the education of young people in difficulty. Further research is needed on the outcomes of social services contact.

Beyond the Risk Paradigm in Mental Health Policy and Practice

Modern society is increasingly preoccupied with fears for the future and the idea of preventing ‘the worst’. The result is a focus on attempting to calculate the probabilities of adverse events occurring – in other words, on measuring risk. Since the 1990s, the idea of risk has come to dominate policy and practice in mental health across the USA, Australasia and Europe.In this timely new text, a group of international experts examines the ways in which the narrow focus on specific kinds of risk, such as violence towards others, perpetuates the social disadvantages experienced by mental health service users whilst, at the same time, ignoring the vast array of risks experienced by the service users themselves. Benefitting from the authors’ extensive practice experience, the book considers how the dominance of the risk paradigm generates dilemmas for mental health organizations, as well as within leadership and direct practice roles, and offers practical resolutions to these dilemmas that both satisfy professional ethics and improve the experience of the service user.

Assembling life history narratives from quantitative longitudinal panel data: what's the story for families using social work?

Abstract Embedded within quantitative longitudinal panel or cohort studies is narrative potential that is arguably untapped but might enrich our understanding of individual and social lives across time. This paper discusses a methodology to assemble the life history narratives of families using social work by drawing on quantitative data from the British Household Panel Survey. It explores whether this person-centred approach helps us to understand the counter-intuitive results of a parallel multivariate analyses, which suggest that families using social work fare worse than similar others over time. Our findings are tentative, due to the experimental use of this narrative method and the limits of social work information in the data-set. Nonetheless, the life histories presented bring to light complexities, diversity and the non-linear pathways between families’ needs, support and outcomes that the aggregates obscure. We conclude that reconstructing families’ lives in this way, especially in the absence of complementary longitudinal qualitative data, affords the wider opportunity to interrogate and better understand the findings of quantitative longitudinal studies.

Predicting the recipients of social work support and its impact on emotional and behavioural problems in early childhood

This paper examines the recipients of social work support in the Millennium Cohort Study. Using panel analysis and fixed effects models, it investigates the factors that lead to the receipt of any type of social work support for individuals with young children and the effects of this support on changes in the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems in these children. We find that divorce or separation, and episodes of homelessness are two important factors that lead to the receipt of social work support. Mothers with male children are also more likely to receive social work support. However, we find no clear evidence that social work support has any effect on changes in childrens emotional and behavioural problems over time. The implications of these findings for social work research and for practice and policy are discussed.