research and evaluation

Joint publication: Dementia - Supporting people with dementia and their carers in health and social care

Social Care Institute of Excellence (SCIE) feature on dementia, exploring the effective implementation of the SCIE / NICE Dementia guidelines. SCIE’s film aims to highlight the importance of social and health care working together to help people with dementia better manage their condition.

Improving support for black disabled people: lessons from community organisations on making change happen

This study reviews the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s 'Making Change Happen' programme, which provided a year’s funding to four grassroots development organisations with a track record in providing support to black disabled people. The report sets out the learning that emerged from the four development projects.

The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry 10 years on: an analysis of the literature

This review begins with a foreword stating that the publication in February 1999 of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report was a defining moment in police relations with black and minority ethnic groups. It then makes five key recommendations. An executive summary gives the background and outlines the broad structure of the report. Sections then put the inquiry into context, examine its recommendations theme by theme, and describe its recommendations on police culture, procedures and training.

Institute of Race Relations news network

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) was established as an independent educational charity in 1958 to carry out research, publish and collect resources on race relations throughout the world. Since 1972, the IRR has concentrated on responding to the needs of Black people and making direct analyses of institutionalised racism in Britain and the rest of Europe. Today, the Institute of Race Relations is at the cutting edge of the research and analysis that informs the struggle for racial justice in Britain and internationally.

Reflective practice : signposts

This learning object is one of a set of exercises and activities taken from the book 'Modern Social Work Practice' written by Mark Doel and Steven Shardlow. This chapter is designed to help students to reflect on the way they 'put their practice together' and to dispel the mystique associated with research and 'putting theory into practice'. It scrutinizes the processes which affect the practitioner's judgement in turning observations into action.

Evaluation of the working for families fund (2004-2008)

This report summarises the findings of the Final Evaluation of the Working for Families Fund (WFF). WFF, which operated from 2004-08, invested in initiatives to remove childcare barriers and improve the employability of disadvantaged parents who have barriers to participating in the labour market, specifically to help them move towards, into, or continue in employment, education or training. The programme was administered by 20 local authorities (which covered 79% of Scotland’s population), operating through around 226 locally based public, private and third-sector projects.

Looking beyond risk. Parental substance misuse: scoping policy

Parental substance misuse can result in a considerable number of negative effects on the family. However, it is incredibly hard to calculate how many children and other family members might be affected. There is also growing evidence that some children appear to be more resilient than others to the negative impact of parental substance misuse. There is a need to investigate how these general statements relate to parental substance misuse across Scotland, a topic that has been given priority status by the Scottish Executive, and other key organisations.

Decent homes in the social sector: statistics reconciliation project 2008

This note summarises the results of a project to explore the discrepancies in non-decent social sector dwelling estimates reported in a national survey and local statistical returns.

The sources have been used to assess progress in making homes decent as part of the decent homes programmes and the government commitment to service delivery through former public service agreement 7. Contents include: main findings of the reconciliation protect; monitoring progress according to PSA7; data splices for PSA 7; national survey and landlord decent homes statistics.

Disabled parents : examining research assumptions

This review seeks to bring a somewhat hidden issue into the light, examining it and considering how the knowledge identified here might influence the future direction of services. Parenting as such has, rightly, gained increasing prominence over the last few years – but the parenting support needs of disabled parents have been largely ignored. This review was developed with two aims in mind. First, to bring together the research literature on disabled parents and, second, to set that research within the context of the policy and practice thinking of its time.