Transcript Reviews_summary_ppt - skape

Engaging with involuntary service
users: key themes from two
literature reviews
Dr. Michael Gallagher
CRFR, University of Edinburgh
[email protected]
Reviews
1. Overview of history and context of
ideas about user involvement in social
work
2. Review of literature on involving
children and families
• Both quite long and detailed but have
summaries at the start
• Available at
www.socialwork.ed.ac.uk/esla
Review 1: context
and overview
• Involvement of users in the development
of social work services owes much to
pressure from service users themselves
• Service user engagement is also
politically charged: New Labour agenda of
public sector reform and modernisation.
• There are different understandings of
user engagement, e.g. consumerist;
governmental; rights-based
Review 1: context
and overview
Enabling user engagement involves:
• building trusting long term
relationships
• clear, honest, open communication,
including explanation of why and how
views are being sought and feedback
about the outcomes
• offering support to help service users to
express their views, including via
independent advocates where appropriate
Review 2: children
and families
Same 3 overall themes about what works:
• Good long term relationships. Frequent
changes of worker are detrimental.
• Clear information and communication. Not
excessive or jargonistic. Include practical details
about the process. Respect parents’ privacy.
• Support to participate, including advocacy,
making meetings less formal, taking account of
different communication styles and needs, using
creative methods.
Also…
Families are different = different needs, e.g.
disabled children, care leavers, young children.
• May be different understandings of
participation. Can help to clarify this at start.
Young people tend to define it in terms of having
influence. Need for SW to be more pro-active?
• Need for engagement with both children
and parents - perhaps separately
• Need for empathic communication to
maintain relationships despite difficult issues –
may require training
Thanks to…
Heather Wilkinson
Mark Smith
Kay Tisdall
Janice McGhee
Susan Elsley
For their contributions to these reviews
What do you think?
Some questions for discussion:
1. Do these reviews reflect your own
experiences?
2. What are the implications of the reviews
for your own work? Is there:
•
•
Anything you would like to do differently?
Anything you would like to keep the same?
3. Is there anything missing? Are there
questions raised for future research?