quarterly briefing 2

This briefing sheet aims to keep you up-to-date with the latest achievements and plans at research in practice and its 56 member agencies. Together we are working to improve the relevance and use of research in the development of more effective services for vulnerable children and their families.

research in practice, an ADSS initiative based at Dartington and Sheffield, is the biggest child care research implementation project in the country. Launched in 1996, it now works with 56 member agencies to encourage the use of child care research in planning and practice and to develop a research ethos-what might be called 'research- mindedness'-in the personal social services for children and families.

Because research in practice works with over a third of all local authorities in England it is succeeding in creating solid opportunities for the replicable development of evidence based services. It is also able to speak with growing conviction on behalf of a large sample of agencies about their needs, aspirations and achievements. The resulting activity is based on common objectives, pursued through close partnership with its members and delivered through a carefully specified range of services and programmes.

distinctive features and objectives

In an era when so much of what statutory agencies do is determined by the requirements of others, the research in practice initiative is notable for its voluntary nature. Member agencies join because they want to be key players in an adventurous collaboration between researchers, practitioners and policy makers. The speed with which the initiative has progressed during the past two years is a measure of this shared enthusiasm and optimism. research in practice and its member agencies work in partnership to promote the development of evidence based practice with children and families using the following definition: Evidence based social care describes the practice of a range of professionals grounded in sound knowledge about the needs of children. It is informed by:

1. the best available evidence on what is effective

2. the practice expertise of professionals

3. the experiences and preferences of service users.

The work of the research in research in practice initiative is planned around three distinct themes:

• getting research to decision makers in practice and policy and to service users

• encouraging research use within practice and policy

• developing research for the users - practitioners, policy makers and children and families.

Three principles shape the research in practice approach. They are:

• working in partnership with its member agencies
• working at every level within an organisation
• learning from one another - professionals, elected members and service users.

member agencies will get the most out of their membership by:

• Seeing membership as an opportunity rather than a solution

• using the services of research in practice as a means to an end rather than an end in themselves

• ensuring that membership of research in practice and the desire to develop evidence based services are embedded within the key structures of their agency.

membership

In September 1999 56 agencies (the maximum agreed by the Management Board) will be members of research in practice-four more than a year ago. The majority of the unitary authorities which were previously part of counties already in membership have become members in their own right. The Children's Society and NSPCC are both members and the benefits of joint voluntary and statutory agency engagement are beginning to show. A membership contract introduced at the beginning of the year runs until September 2001.

our approach to membership

The year has seen considerable expansion and a detailed review of the contribution that research in practice can make to member agencies' performance. We have done our best to make the doubling of membership straightforward for new members and to capitalise on the new opportunities to increase the range and depth of our activity. It was our intention from the outset to run research in practice as one organisation with a split-site staff. While not interested in regionalisation as such, we have always been determined to have a solid presence both in the north and the south of the country. All our services are designed to be in the vanguard of current knowledge about the effective dissemination, adoption and implementation of research within the child care practice world. We tailor services to the needs of the different agencies by offering the many constituencies within each a range to choose from in varying proportions. We hope that this individualized approach will support each agency in its particular journey to promote and strengthen evidence-based practice.

research in practice's way of working is

• voluntary-agencies join because they want to

• collaborative-services are not imposed but are negotiated with the total membership

• pro-active and responsive- enabling agencies to get the support they believe they need and to be introduced to new concepts and methods

• out-going-seeking to share the best of what member agencies are doing, and to introduce them to the best of what others are doing and can provide for them

• committed to service user participation - by working alongside member agencies to identify and implement effective ways to share and gain knowledge together.

finances

Fifty-two agencies paid £5,000 for the financial year 1998-99, with a commitment to pay £5,000 pa for the following two years. A further two agencies paid £2,500 because they joined late; they will pay £5,000 in each of the two following years. Two more will join in September 1999. A number of agencies have already paid for future years. In line with the increase in membership, the ADSS has increased its own contribution to £10,000. In February 1999 the Gatsby Foundation, one of the Sainsbury Family Trusts, awarded a second grant of £171,000 over three years towards the development of the EvidenceBank website. This project will gather speed in September 1999 and show in next year's financial details. In February 1998 the Nuffield Foundation awarded a grant of £23,000 over two years for the development of a series of six research-focused audiotapes.

staff

what research in practice has done during the past year

• It has produced two audiotapes as part of a groundbreaking series designed to help practitioners and policy makers keep up to date with the research most relevant to their own performance targets. They are provided free to member agencies; extra copies can be bought by others for £5.

• It has published the EvidenceBank on the web, so giving all member agency staff access to evaluated, relevant research at the touch of a finger. While access to the necessary IT equipment varies across agencies the advent of the Quality Protects initiative will see this provision increase markedly over the next two years.

• It has put the best researchers in personal contact with elected members to help them make the best use of research in their efforts to tackle youth offending and anti-social behaviour.

• It has worked with front-line children and families teams in a range of member agencies to help them identify practices which promote evidence based practice. An action pack is being developed.

• It has linked the efforts of member agencies to develop evidence based services with the work of other key organisations and individuals. The network includes major research funders, organizations supporting practice agencies in Northern Ireland and the USA, and bodies such as NISW, CEBBS, NCB and RCN.

• It has written journal articles in Britain and N. Ireland.

• It has provided over 1,000 research focused workshop places on 40 workshops covering 16 themes in eight venues across England

• It has run a series of national seminars for senior planners and policy makers on themes including the commissioning and management of external research - which is likely to become a more central activity in light of Quality Protects.

• It has enabled directors of member agencies to hear about methods used by the social exclusion unit, to consider the shape of services in the next decade if they were to be truly needs-led, and to have first sight of DH thinking about the research they should commission to support Quality Protects.

• It runs a Helpline for all staff and provides additional support through a series of roadshow events.

• It has actively maintained its engagement with member agency Link Officers, both in person and through regular letters, News-posters and other briefings and consultations.

• It has provided a service to the wider ADSS membership through workshops at the Social Services Conference, the ADSS Spring Seminar and the provision of this Quarterly Briefing to all ADSS members.

What research in practice will do during the coming year

• It will increase the number of workshops to 43 covering 18 themes.

• It will develop both the content and design of the EvidenceBank website - and establish an Advisory Group, including children and families, to guide the work.

• It will publish key messages about the commissioning and management of external research.

• It will publish a research overview of the messages from recent UK work on the impact of domestic violence on children.

• It will provide up-to-date research findings to elected members (13 & 14 July in Sheffield) and to directors (15 & 16 June in Dartington).

• It will start an evaluation of its value to member agencies of their progress in developing evidence based practice.

• It will run a number of regional events to allow member agencies to learn from each other and to support capacity building.

• It will promote the implementation of agency-wide evidence based practice strategies through a number of national events.

• It will continue providing its core services, including the Helpline and face to-face contact.

• It will produce three more audiotapes-on residential care, preparation for citizenship, and youth offending - and continue to develop their usefulness to groups of staff, elected members and children and families.

• It will continue to develop links with others, including CCETSW and TOPSS, the DH Quality Protects team (in addition to the Regional Development Workers group), the Joint Review Team and the Social Services Inspectorate.

for more information

about anything in this Quarterly Briefing or any other research in practice matter please contact:

Jo Cooke at research in practice,
Children and Families Research Group,
Elmfield,University of Sheffield S10 2TU
Tel: 0114 222 6484
email: j.m.cooke@sheffield.ac.uk

Celia Atherton at research in practice,
Warren House, Warren Lane,
Dartington, Totnes TQ9 6EG,
Tel: 01803 867692
email: celia@rip.org.uk