Transcript Why Numbers Matter in Social Work

Making Social Work Count
Lecture 2
An ESRC Curriculum Innovation and
Researcher Development Initiative
Why Numbers Matter in
Social Work
Learning outcomes
appreciate that
numbers are a
critical component
of social work
practice
understand how
numbers can be
created,
represented and
interpreted in social
work practice
explore how
quantification of an
issue can help us
understand a
complex issue
understand some
basic statistical
concepts such as
incidence,
prevalence and
comparison
Quick quiz!
• How many children are there living in
England?
9,000,000
11,000,000
13,000,000
Office for National Statistics, 2012
Quick quiz!
• How many children are there living in
England?
9,000,000
11,000,000
X
13,000,000
Office for National Statistics, 2012
Quick quiz!
• How many children are living in poverty in
England?
One in ten
One in five
One in three
Save the Children, 2012
Quick quiz!
• How many children are living in poverty in
England?
One in ten
One in five
One in three
X
Save the Children, 2012
Quick quiz!
• What proportion of children in England are
believed to have a parent with a serious drug
problem?
Two in every ten thousand (0.02%)
Two in every thousand (0.2%)
Two in every hundred (2%)
Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003
Quick quiz!
• What proportion of children in England are
believed to have a parent with a serious drug
problem?
Two in every ten thousand (0.02%)
Two in every thousand (0.2%)
Two in every hundred (2%)
X
Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003
Quick Quiz!
• What proportion of children in Scotland are
believed to have a parent with a serious drug
problem?
Five in every ten thousand (0.05%)
Five in every thousand (0.5%)
Five in every hundred (5%)
Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003
Quick quiz!
• What proportion of children in Scotland are
believed to have a parent with a serious drug
problem?
Five in every ten thousand (0.05%)
Five in every thousand (0.5%)
Five in every hundred (5%)
X
Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003
Quick quiz!
• What proportion of children believed to have a
parent with a serious drug problem are still living
with their mother?
64%
79%
92%
Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003
Quick quiz!
• What proportion of children believed to have a
parent with a serious drug problem are still living
with their mother?
64%
X
79%
92%
Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003
Quick quiz!
• What proportion of children believed to have a
parent with a serious drug problem are still living
with their father?
26%
37%
48%
Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003
Quick quiz!
• What proportion of children believed to have a
parent with a serious drug problem are still living
with their father?
26%
37%
X
48%
Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003
Quick quiz!
• What proportion of children believed to have a
parent with a serious drug problem are in care?
15%
10%
5%
Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003
Quick quiz!
• What proportion of children believed to have a
parent with a serious drug problem are in care?
15%
10%
5%
X
Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003
Why are statistics useful?
• With your buddy,
discuss why these
statistics are useful for
social workers and their
managers to know
An exemplar: understanding domestic
violence using statistics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt7JZSrDJA8
Defining domestic violence
Any incident or pattern of
incidents of controlling,
coercive or threatening
behaviour, violence or abuse
between those aged 16 or over
who are or have been intimate
partners or family members
regardless of gender or
sexuality. This can encompass,
but is not limited to, the
following types of abuse:
psychological; physical; sexual;
financial; emotional.
Home Office, 2012
We might want to know.......
• How many people are
suffering domestic
violence for the first time
each year (the incidence
of domestic violence)?
• How many people have
suffered domestic
violence over a given time
period (the prevalence of
domestic violence)?
• What behaviours and
actions constitute
domestic violence?
• What is the impact of
domestic violence?
• What interventions are
most likely to make a
difference?
Police statistics in Northern Ireland
Gathering data at a point in time allows us to look at
trends over time.
What might an increase in police statistics tell us?
• There has been an increase in incidents of
domestic violence?
• There are more incidents of domestic violence
being reported to the police?
• Victims are more likely to report domestic
violence to the police?
• Other people are more likely to report
domestic violence to the police?
How might we measure this issue more
accurately?
• We could ask victims
• We could ask perpetrators
• We could ask providers of
services to victims
(shelters, hospitals,
benefits agency)
• We could ask criminal
justice agencies (police,
What are the strengths and
courts)
weaknesses
of
each
of
these
• We could ask a selection of
approaches?
the general population
British Crime Survey
• The British Crime Survey (BCS) seeks to measure the
amount of crime experienced in England and Wales
each year.
• It involves an annual survey of 46,000 individuals
aged 16yrs and above, and 4,000 children aged
between 10yrs-15yrs, about their experiences of
crime in the previous year.
…Continued
• The Home Office asserts that the BCS can provide a better
reflection of the true level of crime than police statistics since
it includes crimes that have not been reported to, or recorded
by, the police.
• The under-reporting of crime to the police is known to be
particularly acute for intimate violence offences and one of
the strengths of the BCS is that it covers many crimes that are
not reported to the police.
How should we ask about these issues?
• Should we use:
– face-to-face interviews
– telephone interviews
– self-completion
questionnaires
• The BCS uses both face
to face interviews
supplemented by self
completion modules for
sensitive topics.
Response levels
• 76% of those who stated
in the face-to faceinterviews that they were
the victim of domestic
violence, also stated this
in the self-completion
module.
• Only 5% of those who
reported being the victim
of domestic violence in
the self-questionnaire
also said this in the faceto-face module.
• The increased level of
reporting in the selfcompletion module
means that this is a
more reliable source for
information on these
types of offence.
The statistical picture
• 7% of women and 5% of men were estimated to have
experienced domestic abuse in the last year in England,
equivalent to an estimated 1.2 million female and 800,000
male victims.
• Non-physical abuse (i.e. emotional and financial abuse) was
the most common type of abuse experienced by both female
(57%) and male partner abuse victims (46%).
• Around a quarter (27%) of partner abuse victims suffered a
physical injury as a result of the abuse. Among those who had
experienced any physical injury or other effects (such as
emotional problems), around a quarter (28%) received some
sort of medical attention.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crimeresearch/hosb0212/hosb0212?view=Binary
Statistical picture... continued
• Around a quarter (23%) of partner abuse victims reported
sharing accommodation with their abusive partner with 42
per cent of these victims leaving the accommodation because
of the abuse even if it was for only one night.
• Reasons mentioned for not leaving the shared
accommodation were presence of children (38%), love or
feelings for partner (34%), and having nowhere to go (21%).
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crimeresearch/hosb0212/hosb0212?view=Binary
Intimate partner violence experienced since
age of 16yrs
Types of abuse experienced
How might we assess the impact of domestic
violence?
• At a point in time
• Over time (immediate v longer term)
• Self reports
• Clinical judgement by professionals
• Standardised measures
• Comparison between groups
Physical and psychological injuries
• Around a quarter (27%) • Some victims reported
of partner abuse victims
‘mental or emotional
reported that they
problems’ (39%),
sustained some sort of
‘stopped trusting
physical injury.
people or difficulty in
other relationships’
• Minor bruising or black
(19%) and ‘tried
eye (19%) and scratches
to kill self’ (4%).
(13%) were the most
common type of
injuries sustained.
Injuries... continued
• 28% of partner abuse
victims who had
experienced any physical
injury or other effects
received some sort of
medical attention
• The vast majority (82%) of
victims who received
medical attention did so
from a GP or at a doctor’s
surgery.
• 18% of those partner abuse
victims who had received
medical attention had gone
to a hospital’s Accident and
Emergency department.
• 14% had gone to specialist
mental health or psychiatric
services.
Interpreting numbers.......
• Around a quarter (27%) of partner abuse victims
reported that they sustained some sort of physical injury.
• 28% of partner abuse victims who had experienced any
physical injury or other effects received some sort of
medical attention: that means 28% of the 27% of partner
abuse victims who reported they sustained some sort of
physical injury.
What proportion of people who report having experienced
domestic violence receive some sort of medical attention?
28% of 27% = 7.56% of all victims
Longer term impact on mental health
• Depression and post traumatic stress
disorder, which have substantial co-morbidity,
are the most prevalent mental health
sequelae of domestic violence.
• A comprehensive meta-analysis of mainly US
studies, showed that the risk for depression
and post-traumatic stress disorder associated
with domestic violence was even higher than
that resulting from childhood sexual assault.
Impact... continued
• A Canadian populationbased study, found that in
addition to depression,
abused women had
significantly more anxiety,
insomnia, and social
dysfunction than those
not abused, with physical
violence having a stronger
effect than psychological
abuse.
The association between domestic violence
and child abuse
Hamby et al., 2010
The association between domestic violence
and child abuse
Hamby et al., 2010
The association between domestic violence
and child abuse
Hamby et al., 2010
Small group task
• What are the strengths
and limitations of
having quantitative data
about the impact of
domestic violence on
victims?
• What other information
would complement this
quantitative
information?
Intervening effectively: what works?
“The main principle of evidence based
practice is that where services are based
on the best evidence of effectiveness,
alongside the acceptability to clients, the
interventions delivered are more likely to
lead to successful outcomes and less
likely to cause harm”
Moseley & Tierney (2005)
Group-based programmes for male
perpetrators
• Domestic violence perpetrators
heterogeneous
• 1/3 of domestic violence
perpetrators may cease their
behaviour without any legal or
therapeutic intervention
• An (unknown) proportion of
men may never change
behaviour irrespective of the
quality and fidelity of the
intervention
• Range of current interventions
usually limited
….Continued
• Two commonly used groupwork programmes – Duluth and
CBT based
• Challenge of engaging domestically violent men in
behavioural and cognitive change
• Effectiveness of intervention programmes are typically small
• d= 0.35 for Duluth programmes
• d= 0.29 for cognitive-behavioural programmes
• The programmes work for some men, some of the time –
need to be more specific in determining who is able and
willing to engage
Learning outcomes
Are you able to:
• appreciate that numbers are a critical
component of social work practice
• understand how numbers can be
created, represented and interpreted
in social work practice
• explore how quantification of an
issue can help us understand a
complex issue
• understand some basic statistical
concepts such as incidence,
prevalence and comparison
Activity
Activity - Part A
• Ask students to think about a significant social issue that
social workers are likely to deal with in practice. Ask the
students to think about how they might better understand:
- the scale or size of the issue in society at large and the
community they might work in
- the impact of the issue on an individual at a point in time, and
over time
- whether their intervention with the individual was making a
difference, and if so, whether that difference was helpful or
not
Activity - Part A continued
• The point of this exercise is to draw out that social work practice is
informed by both qualitative and quantitative information, and the
skill is in knowing which type of information will answer which
question. For example, in working with a parent who is reporting
difficulties in managing their pre-school child’s behaviour it is
important to ask how they feel, but also to collect information
about the nature of the child’s behaviour and the parent’s
strategies for dealing with any inappropriate behaviour. In such
circumstances an A(ntecedents)B(ehaviour)C(onsequences) book
might be helpful. Over time the parent should also record the
frequency of challenging behaviours to show whether any changes
in their parenting strategies are having the desired effect.
Activity – Part B
• Students should have read Beth Humphries chapter on ‘Experimental ways
of knowing’. Ask them to discuss the ‘Stop and Think’ questions on p48:
• What advantages do experimental designs have over other methods in
research in social work?
• What do you consider are the problems of ‘cause and effect’ methods for
the study of human beings?
• What are some of the ethical questions that arise in experimental design,
and how can they be addressed?
• In considering the appropriateness of experimental methods, when might
you decide to use them? Think of a topic and write down a few questions
on that topic which you think would be addressed by an experimental
approach.
References
• Haynes, L., Service, O., Goldacre, B. and Torgerson, D. (2012) Test, Learn,
Adapt: Developing Public Policy with Randomised Controlled Trials. Cabinet
Office, London. Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_d
ata/file/62529/TLA-1906126.pdf
• Humphries, B. (2008) ‘Experimental ways of knowing’ in Social Work
Research for Social Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Chapter 3:
pp33-49.
• Poulin, M., Orchowsky, S. and Trask, J. (2011) Is This a Good Quality
Outcome Evaluation Report? A Guide for Practitioners. Justice Research
and Statistics Association, Washington.
• Available at:
https://www.bja.gov/evaluation/reference/Quality_Outcome_Eval.pdf
• Sheldon, B. and Macdonald, G. (2009) ‘Evidence based practice’ in A
Textbook of Social Work. Routledge, Oxon. Chapter 4: pp66-91