quarterly briefing 3

This briefing sheet aims to keep you up-to-date with the latest achievements and plans at research in practiceand among 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.

during the last three months.

Workshops: don't miss your free places
Workshops go from strength to strength. Building on last year's highly successful programme we have increased the number (43), themes (18) and venues (10) for our workshops in 2000. Many relate directly to your work on Quality Protects and the new Performance Indicators, including reducing incidence and repetition in child protection, promoting stability, and increasing placement choice. We expect workshop places to be in high demand; Link Officers are already collecting your nominations for free places.

audiotape 3 released

Link Officers have copies of our new audiotape to give away (they sell for £5 each). A sister to No. 2 on family placement (well reviewed in Community Care), it focuses on key research messages about improving practice in residential care. There are presentations by Roger Bullock (an overview), David Berridge (on equality issues), Sonia Jackson (on education), Nina Biehal (on going missing) and by Zoë Robson (a young woman with a positive experience of residential care).

investing in the EvidenceBank

With our EvidenceBank team now in place we are working hard to improve the content and design of the website to make quality research accessible to you at the touch of a button, and then to support your work to integrate it fully into your planning and practice work. The team includes our Research and Resource Manager, Dr Rosemary Hunt, as well as design staff. Recent updates include an expanded Register of Researchers.

a library in your computer?

research in practiceis collaborating with NISW on a Department of Health commission to develop the pilot for an electronic Library for Social Care (eLSC). Within six months you should be able to use the library to track down key findings, guidance and standards around social care. The eLSC is being modelled on the National Electronic Library for Health (NeLH). One 'floor' of the library site is likely to include databases such as our EvidenceBank and NISW's CareData. Another floor might hold 'online' journals in printable form. Watch this space for more news.

Link Officers' annual meeting

A successful Link Officers' Annual Meeting took place in November at Losehill Hall in Derbyshire. Solid progress towards developing evidence based services was reported by many Link Officers. Encouraging presentations were made by Cheshire, the Children's Society, Derbyshire, Hackney, Sheffield, Somerset, Tameside and Wiltshire.

evaluation

Evaluation has begun of research in practice's intermediate objectives (about actual use of research for practice). We have to evaluate what we do to make sure that you are getting good value for your investment, and to enable your agency to check that your engagement with research in practice is adding value to your efforts to improve service quality. The evaluation work will involve every agency and with your support will be more comprehensive. Please encourage your Link Officer and your staff to get involved in this evaluation - which we have planned carefully with the Management Board and with Link Officers. Your Link Officer has summary leaflets explaining the process. The first part of the evaluation starts in the spring when Link Officers will conduct an audit to help gauge progress on behalf of all members. The framework will be made available in March 2000; the resulting information will help to put benchmarks in place and make it possible to plan for change.

any questions?

Three hundred teams from research in practice agencies have completed a pilot questionnaire about their use of and need for research. Just under a fifth (17%) were actively involved in doing research, although more (38%) reported reading research at least once a month. Most teams (93%) said they used management information as their main entrée to research information. The study identified a lack of awareness of some key research overviews but also highlighted gaps in research where answers are needed for practice. A summary of the Any Questions? study, including implications for agencies, will be prepared for next year's ADSS Spring Seminar.

evidence based team working

Evaluation of the Evidence Based Team Working project started in September. The project began in 1998 and aims to identify what teams should do and what they need in order to make better use of research in their day to day work. We have the impression that progress has been good, but the evaluation offers a more robust test. Six teams are developing standards for practice, based on research evidence; they then collect baseline information and will look for change in practice around the standards over time. Chosen topics include domestic violence, young people leaving care, family support interventions, and getting research findings to children and families. Within this framework, teams are considering whether research can be better incorporated into supervision and group case discussions.

in the next three months

website improvements

More changes are on the way for the EvidenceBank . On the first day of the new millennium we will launch our 'Links' page - providing a gateway to quality research evidence on the internet. Our first QPResearch Briefing , on education of looked after children, will be launched in February on paper and online. This and future QPResearch Briefings will review and summarise research to help you help plan improvement around the Quality Protects objectives.

newsposter

The fourth Newsposter will be with Link Officers by Christmas. It will update your staff on the main new research overviews and will continue to provide a platform for examples of good practice in evidence based decision making from research in practice member agencies.

National inter-agency seminar

Our National Seminar on 10 March will have an inter-agency focus - so helping your agencies get support for evidence based practice between as well as within local agencies. The topic will be the education of children in need; each research in practice agency will have two places on the seminar, one reserved for a partner agency of your choice.

information - to help you manage

ADSS is as keen as we are to ensure that information technology delivers more of what you need to help you and your staff do your jobs. We are working closely with the ADSS Research Group to promote strategic use of IT as a key lever in accessing and updating research evidence in services for children and families. This is a rapidly developing field and one which both ADSS and research in practice would like to influence so that access to good materials is freely available to professionals, service users and the wider public.

have your say

If you have comments or suggestions then please tell us by either contacting Celia Atherton or by contacting one of the directors on the Management Board: Julie Jones - Chair (Westminster), Ray Jones (Wiltshire), Richard Jones (St Helens), or Penny Thompson (Sheffield).

for more information

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

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

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