SSKS

Briefing paper covering the issues and knowledge base around the subject of deliberate self-harm among children and young people.

Good practice guide produced by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) to support the commissioning of the Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) service. It was developed through consultation with a range of stakeholders, including commissioners, local authority and health authority Mental Capacity Act leads and IMCA providers.

The topic of this briefing is the prevention of pregnancy among a specific group: looked after children and young people, who usually live in foster homes, but may also be in residential placements or with family members. Research and policy literature currently focuses on the provision of appropriate and adequate sex and relationship education in conjunction with accessible contraceptive services as the means of reducing teenage pregnancy.

Systematic maps aim to describe the existing research literature on a broad topic area and also highlight any gaps. This systematic map includes research on the experience of depression in various BME older populations and the use of services in the UK.

Good communication, both oral and written, is at the heart of best practice in social work. Communication skills are essential for establishing effective and respectful relationships with service users, and are also essential for assessments, decision making and joint working with colleagues and other professionals.

Report giving advice on how to ensure all parents are able to access parent education programmes. It also examines the take-up of parenting programmes and potential barriers to access.

There is a growing realisation that service uses and carers should be involved in developing the services they receive. Their expertise as users of services and what they want from services should be heard. It is particularly important that service users are involved in the national organisations that regulate services, the workforce, education and training n social care.

Evidence-based policy and practice increasingly demands the use of research as a key tool to improve practice. However, little research can be directly applied to practice, many practitioners aren't equipped to digest research and appropriate support systems are lacking. What is needed is a better understanding of the relationship between social care research and the work of social care practitioners, including what organisational structures are needed to enable the use of research.

SCIE, in the formation of its good practice guidance for the social care sector seeks to include all relevant kinds of knowledge and strongly believes that it is only through looking at the sector from a whole perspective - including the views of service users and practitioners - that we can truly advise social care workers on what works best.

The topic of this briefing is how parenting capacity can be affected by parental substance misuse (drugs and/or alcohol) and how this may be managed.