“Do I Read it? No”. Knowledge Utilisation in Child Welfare Decisions

Abstract

Much as one would like to be able to base permanency decisions on the solid ground of empirical findings and objective knowledge, the nature of child abuse precludes this possibility. In the absence of any unitary knowledge base, it is important to know what knowledge social workers use to inform their permanency decisions. This article presents findings from an exploratory indepth qualitative research project with the objective of exploring the knowledge that social workers use to make decisions regarding permanency arrangements for Looked after Children. This research formed part of my Doctorate in Childhood Studies at Queen's University Belfast.Thinking aloud-protocols and semi-structured interviews, in conjunction with a specifically constructed vignette, were used as an innovative methodology to explore the knowledge used to make permanency decisions by experienced practitioners in a local authority in Northern Ireland.A thematic analysis was used to structure the findings. An adapted model of knowledge was used to structure the themes which was based on Drury-Hudson (1997) and Pawson et al's., (2003) model of knowledge. The findings show that organisational knowledge and practitioner knowledge were privileged almost exclusively over research, theory and service user knowledge.Findings also reveal that using these two sources of knowledge led to overwhelmingly protectionist oriented decisions, significantly affecting the care trajectory of the child in the vignette.Recommendations are made with the aim of improving the extent and depth of practitioner knowledge in this field, thus helping to increase the robustness, consistency and defensibility of decisions taken.

A qualitative study of adult protection procedures: threshold screening of new referrals by designated adult safeguarding practitioners

“…However, there was a sense that the participants were relying on their practice wisdom and knowledge that they had built up over time, rather than applying evidence-informed practice or using a safeguarding assessment methodology. In terms of the assessment of threshold information required in adult safeguarding, it would appear that practitioners are relying on their intuition (McCafferty, 2022; McCafferty and Taylor, 2022). Studies have shown that the application of knowledge diminishes over time after undertaking a period of training (Pike et al , 2011).…”

Vetenskapligt kunskapsutnyttjande och nyttjande av kunskapskällor bland hälso- och sjukvårdskuratorer

“…Vetenskapligt kunskapsutnyttjande innefattar två komponenter, vetenskaplig kunskap samt kunskapsutnyttjande. Med vetenskaplig kunskap avses forskningsresultat som har framkommit utifrån vetenskapligt etablerade och vedertagna metoder (McCafferty, 2022). Vi utgår från följande definition av begreppet kunskapsutnyttjande i vår artikel: Kunskapsutnyttjande definieras som en process där en professionell tar del av och bedömer kunskap (t.ex.…”

“…Forskning från Nordirland som inkluderade socialarbetare verksamma inom individoch familjeomsorg fann att de primärt förlitade sig på lagstiftning, policy och praxis i sina beslut. Vidare använde de sig av sin arbetslivserfarenhet, medan användandet av forskning eller teori konstaterades vara mycket lågt (McCafferty, 2022;McCafferty & Taylor, 2022). McCafferty och Taylor (2022) fann att socialarbetarna stötte på flera hinder: tilltron till den egna förmågan att använda teori och forskning samt organisatoriska förhållanden, exempelvis tidsbrist.…”

“…När enkäten utformades formulerades vissa frågor för att möjliggöra jämförelser med tidigare forskning: exempelvis frågorna 10, 11 och 12 (Ekeland m.fl., 2019) samt fråga 13 (James m.fl., 2019). Andra frågor samt svarsalternativ utformades med inspiration från tidigare forskning: fråga 14 (Ekeland m.fl., 2019) samt fråga 15 (James m.fl., 2019;McCafferty, 2022;Finne m.fl., 2022;Wakefield m.fl., 2022). I den här studien analyseras utvalda delar av enkätsvaren.…”

Systematic Bibliographic Database Searching for Literature Reviews: Case Study on Child Protection Decision-Making

“…These technological capacities, such as improvement in search platforms and facilities, need to be used wisely and efficiently. The skills of identifying relevant research and developing empirically-based understanding and explanations are yet to be tightly woven into the fabric of everyday social work practice and decision making (McCafferty, 2020;McCafferty and Taylor, 2020;.…”