Search results

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on Pytlowana and Stenfert Kroese’s article on the experiences of professionals working with parents with learning disabilities by exploring challenges and good practice in this area.

Key areas of practice were identified for further exploration by drawing on research studies with parents with learning disabilities.

While there is growing evidence of good practice around working with parents with learning disabilities, a number of challenges around communication and relationship-based practice remain. The paper recommends further training and education for those working in this complex area of practice.

The paper adds value by bringing together evidence from across a number of studies to highlight good practice.

People with lived experience of mental health problems (MHPs) are often marginalised and have difficulty achieving community inclusion. Citizenship, a relatively novel concept in mental health, provides a means of understanding what is necessary for marginalised individuals and groups to gain a sense of belonging within their communities. By exploring the “what, why, how and who” of citizenship, the purpose of this paper is to provide a rationale for the inclusion of citizenship as part of a person-centred and holistic mental health strategy.

A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, with peer researchers, was adopted to develop a model of citizenship within a Scottish context. The aim of the model is to link the concept of citizenship with specific strategies that systems, agencies and individuals can use within mental health policy and practice to promote greater inclusion and participation. Concept mapping was used as part of a mixed-methods participatory methodology and data were then analysed using multivariate statistical methods of multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis.

It is argued that using a CBPR approach, utilising concept mapping, encourages the development of a model of citizenship that is entirely grounded in the perspectives and lived experiences of people with MHPs. The need for adequate resources, preparatory work, training, research management and reflexive practice are key to the success of a CBPR approach with peer researchers.

Working with peer researchers and key stakeholder groups is central to a CBPR approach and the implementation of a model of citizenship within mental health policy and practice. Developing a model of citizenship derived specifically from the experiences of people with lived experience is likely to promote their inclusion. It provides a means of challenging the structural deficits and inequalities that cause distress and prevent people with lived experience of MHPs of recovering their citizenship.

This article will examine the potential gap between the rhetoric of reducing bureaucracy to achieve better outcomes for individuals, and the reality for community care in the framework of the introduction of a single reporting system focused on a Single Outcome Agreement (SOA), developed between local and central government in Scotland. The article will provide a description of current arrangements in Scotland and draw on a major analysis of all 32 08/09 SOAs conducted by Community Care Providers Scotland to examine whether or not this framework could be a driver or barrier to better outcomes.

Integration between health and local authority services has been informed more by policy than by evidence. The gap which often exists between the development of an evidence base and its implementation has in this way been circumvented, but new challenges have arisen as a result of the policy context and services' response to it. Research undertaken by a learning disability service to inform the local integration agenda failed to have any impact, possibly in part because the research itself was a product of the same organisational context that was shaping integration. Although several isolated integration initiatives were in existence, the lack of clear strategic direction identified by the project as a key feature of the local integration agenda also limited the extent to which the project itself could effect change. Both the project and those changes which were occurring in services became features of an overall stasis, which in itself can illuminate the challenge of effecting meaningful change through research on services in constant flux.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the persistent challenges in implementing care management within the context of integration. In addition the appropriateness of the care management model will be considered within the current, personalization focused, health and social care policy landscape. The paper draws upon a recent evaluation of a care management and assessment pilot project within a health and social care partnership in Scotland.

A multi‐method approach was adopted, including interviews, vignettes and focus groups, in order to capture data around expectations in relation to the pilot as well as exploring processes and outcomes for those involved.

This paper argues that whilst progress has been made with regard to care management, specific and persistent challenges remain. Professional and organizational boundaries, communication and information sharing remain key challenges. Policy imperatives have shifted the emphasis in community care services towards self‐care, co‐production and personalization contributing to a lack of clarity over the place of care management within the broader integration agenda.

This research was undertaken in one partnership locality in Scotland and as such the findings are related to that particular area. However, the key messages arising from this paper resonate with the broader academic literature on care management and as such are likely to be of interest to a broader audience.

This paper brings together integrated working, care management and the developing policy framework of self‐care to consider the challenges for care management in this context.

This article seeks to consider the links between emerging concepts of citizenship in the twenty‐first century and the legitimization of this agenda by providing an overview of UK policy as it relates to adult protection as well as consideration of concepts of citizenship and the links between the two areas.

The paper provides an overview of adult protection in the UK and then takes the reader through concepts of vulnerability and citizenship and considers the implications of these concepts on the citizenship of those most likely to be subject to adult protection procedures in the UK.

This article shows how models of citizenship have altered over time to reflect societal norms and customs and in particular how this paradigm shift has legitimized intervention in the lives of adults. It further highlights the likely impact of adult protection procedures on the citizenship rights of those most likely to experience them.

The paper brings together conceptual discourses on citizenship and adult protection.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of user and carer involvement in a new one‐year postgraduate certificate course for Mental Health Officers (MHOs) in Scotland, covering the first year of its delivery (2009‐2010).

This was explored in two ways: first, by assessing the level of user and carer involvement against a modified framework; and second, by measuring students' confidence in working with people with mental health issues over the duration of the course, and through interviews with students and service users and documentary analysis.

The findings indicate user and carer “influence” and “partnership” over the design and delivery of the learning, teaching and assessment strategy, but no degree of “control” over any aspect of the course. Teaching provided by users and carers was associated with marked improvement in students' confidence in engaging with and upholding the rights of users and carers in the context of the MHO role. Students reported increased awareness of the lived reality of compulsory treatment. Users reported benefits from feeling they had helped facilitate future good practice.

The research design does not allow for causal links to be made between increases in student confidence and user and carer involvement.

The study identified substantial barriers to effective user and carer involvement but confirmed its potential as a positive change agent for post‐qualifying social work education.

This study contributes to the evidence base by demonstrating the value of service user and carer involvement in post qualifying social work education.

Successful development of health and social care partnerships is contingent on the contribution of all stakeholder groups to overcome the ‘wicked’ issues that beset the field. This article explores four key issues, identified by a network of diverse stakeholders as vital to the future of health and social care partnerships, and proposes ways in which individuals and organisations from all stakeholder groups can support health and social care organisations to work together to deliver good outcomes to service users and their carers.