social exclusion

Preventing loneliness and social isolation in older people (IRISS Insights, No 25)

Prevention has been identified as a key aspect of Scottish public service reform. In response to the findings of the Christie Commission (2011), the Scottish Government has called for a 'decisive shift towards prevention'.

This Insight looks specifically at the prevention of isolation and loneliness amongst older people, with a particular focus on what practitioners in the fields of health and social care should bear in mind when working to tackle this important and growing issue.

Turning the Tide: A vision paper for multiple needs and exclusion

An update on 'Turning the Tide: A vision paper for multiple needs and exclusions' following the launch of the government’s Social Justice Strategy.

This document was developed because of a shared concern that across the country a small group of individuals live chaotic lives and face poor life chances, as a result of multiple needs and ineffective contact with services.

Teens and toddlers integrated process evaluation

Teens and Toddlers (T&T) is a youth development and teenage pregnancy prevention programme and the central project of the Children: Our Ultimate Investment (COUI) organisation. COUI UK was founded in 2001 and introduced the Teens and Toddlers programme to address social exclusion and high teenage pregnancy rates.

NatCen was commissioned to carry out a rigorous outcome and process evaluation of the T&T programme via a randomised controlled trial (RCT) with an embedded process evaluation. This report sets out the findings of the process evaluation.

At a glance 60: preventing loneliness and social isolation among older people

This At a glance briefing explains the importance of tackling social isolation and loneliness, particularly among older people. It highlights the adverse effects of feeling isolated and describes a number of services that have been found to help reduce the problem. The briefing is based on SCIE’s review of research evidence, published in Research briefing 39: preventing loneliness and social isolation: interventions and outcomes.

Housing providers’ approaches to tackling worklessness: assessing value and impact

Report that captures the range of activities that housing providers are involved in to help residents into work. The report highlights particular approaches and projects that seem to be working and suggests ways in which housing providers could enhance their impact.

The report reflects on housing providers’ current approaches to tackling worklessness in order to provide recommendations to the government, welfare to work contractors, and the housing sector itself.

Deliberate research as a tool to make value judgements

Paper that compares deliberative research to more traditional methods of studying the values of the general public, such as in-depth interviewing, attitudinal surveys, and participatory approaches, and reveals that deliberative designs involve a number of assumptions, including a strong fact/value distinction, an emphasis on ‘outsider’ expertise, and a view of participants as essentially similar to each other rather than defined by socio-demographic differences.