Social workers and service users needed to decide most vital research priorities for adults’ social work

An initiative to begin deciding on research priorities into the effectiveness of and improvements for adults’ social work reaches next stage

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An initiative to decide on the research priorities for improvements in adults’ social work is inviting anyone affected by adult social work to give their views on the most important questions to be answered with further research.

At the end of last year, the Adult Social Work Priority Setting Partnership, initiated by chief social worker for adults in England Lyn Romeo, asked those involved or with experience in adults’ social work what research is needed to improve adult social work.

After 500 responses including those from social workers, carers and service users, the partnership has devised a list of 62 questions for research around adult social work in England. It is now asking for views on which are the most important in a short survey.

Most important questions

The list of 62 was developed by checking against existing evidence to ensure they had not already been answered. The partnership is now asking participants to choose the 10 most important to them in a short survey.

The partnership was started in response to the 2016 report “Social work: the state we’re in” by the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at King’s College.

Romeo said: “We want to understand more about what works best when social workers work with adults and their families.  Research evidence can help with this but first we need to know what is important to people and therefore what to research. 

“That is why this survey is vital.  It will help us to make sure that future research answers the questions that are important to social workers themselves and anyone who has been in contact with them.  We want future research to make a real difference to improve the quality of care and support that people receive.”

Results will be released later this year.

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