Evidence-Informed Practice

Curated by Iriss, this collection features: Iriss Insights which summarise evidence on key topics, evidence sources and other related resources.

The Tilda Goldberg Centre

Tilda Goldberg was a pioneering social work researcher. She was the Director of Research at the National Institute for Social Work and carried out the first Randomised Controlled Trials in British social work in the 1960s and 1970s. The Goldberg Centre was set-up with core funding from Tilda Goldberg’s bequest to address this problem by developing excellent social care research and supporting the use of evidence-based approaches in practice.

School for Social Care Research

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has established a new School for Social Care Research. The aim of the school is to increase the evidence-base for adult social care practice. The SSCR will undertake high-quality primary research and provide a focus for applied research in social care within the NIHR.

Attitudes and approaches to evidence, innovation and improvement in social services in Scotland

The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS) has three programmes through which it delivers its work: evidence-informed practice, innovation and improvement, and knowledge media. This is a research paper, which examines attitudes, approaches, use and barriers to innovation and improvement and evidence-informed practice in the sector, which could be used as a baseline for future research to track and monitor attitudinal change.

Research soundbites: culture, change and community justice

Fergus McNeill discusses a literature review of the management of change within community justice organisations, conducted with Ros Burnett and Tricia McCulloch. The review explored: the nature and character of occupational, professional and organisational cultures in community justice; how such cultures respond to, accommodate and resist change processes; how and why processes of change succeed and fail in criminal justice organisations; and effective approaches to the management of change in criminal justice.

Public attitudes to housing

Paper that examines public attitudes towards housing tenure; public attitudes towards neighbourhood and property types; perceptions of housing taxation; and the implications of the evidence for reforming the housing system to support vulnerable households. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) commissioned the paper to contribute ideas for its Housing Market Taskforce, a two-year programme of work aiming to achieve long-term stability in the housing market for vulnerable households.

Drugs research: an overview of evidence and questions for policy

In 2001, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation embarked upon a unique and challenging programme of research that explored the problem of illicit drugs in the UK. The research addressed many questions that were often too sensitive for the government to tackle. In many cases, these studies represented the first research on these issues and the policy implications have been far-reaching. This report outlines the results of the largest independent programme of drugs research of its kind within the UK.

Social Care TV

Social Care TV is a new online channel for anyone involved in the social care sector, ranging from managers and trainers to front-line staff and people who use care services. As part of the SCIE family of resources, Social Care TV brings to life the work and lives of people involved in all aspects of the social care sector, through a series of short films and links to multimedia and e-learning resources. This site offers access to video-based training resources and general interest programmes, reflecting the issues, challenges and rewards in current social care practice.