2,519 research outputs found
Child and Adolescent Psychology for Social Work and Allied Professions: Applied Perspectives
No full textThis essential new textbook meets the challenges faced by those who work with children in order to provide safe and effective practice. It identifies the ways in which social work and psychology need to work together to achieve this. Misca and Unwin reflect on the need for 'research mindedness' in social work education, and offer an invaluable critical analysis of current knowledge of child and adolescent psychology theory and research to help inform best social work practice.
Features:
Reflects the developing trend for 'research mindedness' in social work education as put forward by the Social Work Reform Board, as well as Recommendation 13 in Eileen Munro's recent review of child protection in England which suggested that child and family social work draws on evidence of effective interventions, which are frequently underpinned by psychological knowledge.
Focus on cutting edge theoretical perspectives and research, and applying the latest developments in child and adolescent psychology to contemporary social work practice.
Key theoretical developments in areas such as emotional, cognitive and social development are explored, and then applied through reflective points and case studies.
Authors:
Gabriela Misca (PhD, CPsychol, CSci, AFBPsS, FHEA) is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Worcester, UK, and 2015-16 Fulbright Scholar in the USA. The focus of her research is advancing understanding of child development in the context of complex and/or adverse family dynamics and transitions across the lifespan.
Peter Unwin, PhD, is a Principal Lecturer at the University of Worcester where he teaches on the MA and BA in Social Work. He is a Registered Social Worker who has worked across all sectors of child care, having a particular interest in foster care
Challenges in Evaluation of Intervention Programmes with Children: Reflections from a Research(er) Perspective
No full textThis paper will review some of the challenges that researchers, evaluators and designers of intervention programme for vulnerable children may encounter. The challenges considered in the present paper are around methodological issues, specifically the issues of validity of outcome measures; and service users’ involvement, particularly children’s perspectives, in research evaluation. The author draws on extensive experience of conducting research on evaluating the outcomes of interventions for looked after children in the UK and the article invites the reader to reflect upon some of these challenges
The “Quiet Migration”: Is Intercountry Adoption a Successful Intervention in the Lives of Vulnerable Children?
Get PDFPractitioner’s Keypoints
Based on the reviewed research findings, this paper supports the following arguments:
· overall, children adopted internationally can and do thrive in their adoptive countries;
· such success is guaranteed by the high commitment of adoptive parents and the availability of post-adoption support services;
· there is, however, a lack of evidence-based practice relating to interventions best suited to the needs of these children post-international adoption;
· following a globally standardised process and strict protocols may help alleviate illicit activity in international adoptions;
· existing guidelines must be tightened to ensure that children are the central focus in intercountry adoption and that their development is not affected by cross-border movement
The ‘Quiet Migration’: Is International Adoption a Successful Intervention in the Lives of Vulnerable Children Worldwide?
No full textOver the past decades international adoption became a global phenomenon of cross-border movement of vulnerable children, mainly from poor, undeveloped to wealthy countries. Debates around international adoptions involve, often passionate, arguments for/against. Albeit seen as ‘the ultimate form of imperialism’, trafficking and exploitation of children, international adoptions are also praised as successful interventions in the lives of the most vulnerable children worldwide.
Research on the outcomes of internationally adopted children is highly relevant for both policy and practice. Many of these children experienced adversity (war, severe poverty, malnutrition, institutionalisation, abuse, etc.) in their birth countries. Following their progress into their adoptive countries is crucial for understanding their development, guiding policy and practice and to shed light on the issue of developmental trajectories of other ‘at-risk’ children.
This presentation reports the findings of a study on the outcomes of international adoption and its impact on various aspects of adopted children’s development. The methods employed are systematic review and meta-analysis.
Results indicate that international adoptions are overall successful with very low break down rates. However, such success is guaranteed by the high commitment of adoptive parents and high levels of supports available to these families. Therefore, support services (health, mental health and educational) and their cost implications need to be considered in relation to inter-country adoptees. The study identifies the lack of evidence-based practice on interventions best suited to the needs of these children post-international adoption and in this area valuable lessons can be learnt and applied to other ‘at-risk’ children
‘She’s More Than a Mother - She Takes Care of Me’: Exploring the Meaning of Family for Young People Growing up in Institutional Care
No full textObjective: To explore the meaning of family and family connectedness in teenagers growing up in institutional care.
Method: Semi-structured interviews with 40 young people aged 12 to 16 living in institutional care in Romania were conducting using the Family Chessboard Technique. This is a figure placement technique - adapted from the Family System Test - designed to represent family relationships spatially, capture structural patterns of family cohesion and introduce the ‘family’ topic to young people.
Results: Teenagers’ representations of their families suggest that care provided on a consistent basis is the most important and they felt strongly about the lack of interest shown by some parents, who ceased to maintain even minimal contact with them, and in turn, they had ‘rejected’ or ‘replaced’ these parents. Teenagers included a number of their institutional caregivers as family members and also ‘nice people who behave like family’ or grandparents and other relatives who performed caring roles in their lives. Most young people had inclusive notions of family based on an assumption about how parents ‘ought to behave’ towards their children, and their expectations of parents were high: they tended to distance themselves from ‘parents who behave badly’ and consequently did not feel connected to them.
Conclusions: The importance attached to families by teenagers living in institutional care indicates that greater involvement by parents should be strongly encouraged in safe situations, and that teenagers do accept parent-substitute figures when birth parents fail to maintain contact and provide care
The Changing Face of Adoption in England: Opportunities and Dilemmas
No full textThe Coalition Government in England has recently undertaken a radical review of adoption services. Informed by business and managerial principles, the government strategy, ‘An Action Plan for Adoption: Tackling Delay’ (DfE, 2012a), is designed to increase the number of adoptions, widen the pool of adoptive applicants and reduce the costs occurred by keeping children unnecessarily in the looked after system of care. The new strategy has been opposed by many in the social work profession who fear that a speeding up of the adoption process will erode social work values and practice. Previous governments have attempted to bring about radical change in adoption practices across England, but with little success. The paper reviews some of the dilemmas raised by the new adoption proposals, such as the opportunity to bring about success and to change the outcomes for children needing adoption as supported by the body of research into the potential positive effects of adoption on children’s outcome. However the paper is questioning whether managerialist tools such as league tables of local authority performance have any place in child-centred adoption practice
A Taste of Research: Reflections on a Summer Vacation Research Assistantship
No full textResearch is closely intertwined in teaching and learning psychology as a science-based discipline and various methods are used to enable psychology students to grasp the nature of psychological research. VRA (Vacation Research Assistantship) schemes give students the unique opportunity to ‘taste’ what research is truly about, and develop important skills and knowledge in the process and ‘test’ their interest in a research career. VRAs provide a research-based teaching providing an experiential approach to learning, where both the student and educator are engaged as partners in the research process, reducing the role division between student and educator. This paper reflects on a VRA process and outcomes in respect of student learning and experience using as framework the teaching –research nexus (Griffiths, 2004). Both student’s and educator’s reflections are discussed as well as directions for future developments and research
"Families Un-locked”: Relationships Emerging from COVID-19 into the “New Normal”
No full textIn this webinar, Relate, the University of Worcester UK and Relationships Australia will be sharing findings from their longitudinal research study, Families Un-locked which looks at the impact of the pandemic on relationships and family life.
Running order of webinar:
Introduction
Aidan Jones, Chief Executive at Relate
Key findings of Families Un-locked study
Dr Gabriela Misca, Senior Lecturer, Psychology, University of Worcester
Findings and reflections from Australia
Nick Tebbey, Chief Executive, Relationships Australia
The counsellor perspective
Relate Counsellor, Peter Saddington
Implications for policy and practice
Professor Janet Walker, President of Relate
Audience Q&
“Living in our shoes”: Influencing policy and practice Special Award for FiMpacT 2021
No full textThe Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) Research Centre has announced today (27th January) that Professor Janet Walker OBE and Dr Gabriela Misca are the winners of the 2021 Special Award for FiMpacT, in recognition of their research on Armed Forces families.
The academics were Lead Adviser and Research Adviser respectively for Living In Our Shoes, an independent and comprehensive review into understanding the needs of, and support provided to, Service families. It was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Defence, and led by Andrew Selous MP. The report, which was published in June 2020, had 110 recommendations, many of which the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has agreed to implement. It will form the basis of the MOD’s 2021 Families Strategy, which will have a significant impact on the lives of UK Armed Forces families.
Professor Walker was the lead author of the report, bringing her extensive research experience and understanding of Armed Forces families to the project. She travelled across the UK to speak to families, ensuring that their voices were heard and included in the report. As Research Adviser to the review, Dr Misca worked closely with Professor Walker to ensure that the recommendations were informed by the latest national and international research on military families.
Professor Walker is Emeritus Professor of Family Policy at Newcastle University. She has led over fifty multi-disciplinary studies relating to family life and relationships. Her research has been widely published, and she has worked closely with government departments and other sectors to influence policy and practice throughout her career.
Dr Gabriela Misca is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Worcester and an expert in child and family psychology, with a current focus on military families. Recipient of a 2015-16 Fulbright Scholar Award, she spent a year in the USA collaborating with practice agencies, Veteran Administration establishments and research partners to identify best practices in supporting military and veteran families, and assess their cultural transferability to the UK.
The award winners will present at the FiMT Research Centre Conference 2021 about how their research informed the findings of the review and its recommendations, on Wednesday 24th March. The online free-to-attend conference will focus on the ‘Transition of Service People and Families’ and is now open for registrations.
Professor Walker also gave a presentation on the findings from the review at a recent launch event for the report. You can watch her presentation here, or see the full event with a speech from the Secretary of State for Defence here.
The Special Award for FiMpacT is one of three awards. The other award winners will be announced in the coming weeks, and they will join Dr Misca and Professor Walker in presenting at the FiMT Research Centre Conference.
Ray Lock CBE, Chief Executive of Force in Mind Trust, said:
“We are delighted to present this award to both Professor Walker and Dr Misca, in recognition of the remarkable impact their research has had, and will have in future.
“Dr Misca’s expertise in understanding the complexity and diversity of military and veteran families and their support needs contributed to the analysis and interpretation of the review findings, leading to recommendations that are fully evidence-based.
“Professor Walker’s research excellence and her determination to hold the Ministry of Defence to account have resulted in an impactful and truly seminal project that will benefit many Service and ex-Service families for a long period to come.”
Professor Janet Walker OBE said:
“Service men and women are required to put operational efficiency and commitment to ‘duty first’ as their number one priority, and their families experience a level of mobility and repeated periods of separation that are unparalleled in civilian life. It is essential that as a nation we do everything we can to value the sacrifices military families make to keep us all safe. I am delighted that our report has been well-received and that steps are being taken to implement the recommendations.”
Dr Gabriela Misca said:
“A growing body of research sheds light on the lived experiences of military families across the globe, the challenges they face, and their remarkable resilience. It is vital that effective policy and practice are grounded in research evidence and the Living in our shoes recommendations have drawn on both national and international studies. We expect the report to have significant impact on policy and practice and effect positive change for Armed Forces Families now and in the future.”
Andrew Selous MP, who led the review, has also congratulated the researchers. He said:
“It was an enormous pleasure to work with Jan and Gabriela. They were not only extremely knowledgeable and professional but were also brilliant at engaging one-to-one with all the family members we had the privilege of listening to. With my political awareness and with the academic rigour I think we made a very good team.
Editorial: COVID-19 and beyond: From (forced) remote teaching and learning to “the new normal” in higher education
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COVID-19 and beyond: From (forced) remote teaching and learning to “the new normal” in higher educatio
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