Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: There has been increased interest in the development of evidence tools for social welfare [1] in recent years, following the success of the Cochrane Library in presenting the best evidence for the effectiveness of healthcare interventions. There has been much debate in this field, and a number of organisations now have this area as a work focus, including some entities of the Campbell Collaboration and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (UK).
Difficulties and Dilemmas: There is less capacity for systematic reviews of evidence in this policy area than some others for a number of reasons. These are both methodological and cultural. Both are affected by the nature of the social welfare task, and the types of knowledge necessary to inform it. Difficulties may be experienced at all stages of the review process including:
Question formulation
Understanding the process and mechanisms of change in the lives of service users
Defining and measuring outcomes
The importance of the input of user views in the review process
Varied types of relevant evidence: diverse research methods, report data, professional journals.
Searching diverse terminology and less developed bibliographic tools.
Less evidence for methods of both quality appraisal and synthesis of findings in social welfare research
The cultural category relates both to the provision of social welfare services and the collection of evidence. There is lower capacity among social welfare practitioners for the uptake of evidence than in some other areas. There is also considerable debate in the research field as to what constitutes knowledge, and how to collect it, and the systematic review is more controversial in social research cultures than elsewhere.
Possible solutions: This presentation will identify progress to date in relation to some of these issues, including user input, developments in searching and bibliographic tools, and narrative synthesis of findings.
1. The term 'Social welfare' refers to policy and practice in the provision of personal social care and social services.
Difficulties and Dilemmas: There is less capacity for systematic reviews of evidence in this policy area than some others for a number of reasons. These are both methodological and cultural. Both are affected by the nature of the social welfare task, and the types of knowledge necessary to inform it. Difficulties may be experienced at all stages of the review process including:
Question formulation
Understanding the process and mechanisms of change in the lives of service users
Defining and measuring outcomes
The importance of the input of user views in the review process
Varied types of relevant evidence: diverse research methods, report data, professional journals.
Searching diverse terminology and less developed bibliographic tools.
Less evidence for methods of both quality appraisal and synthesis of findings in social welfare research
The cultural category relates both to the provision of social welfare services and the collection of evidence. There is lower capacity among social welfare practitioners for the uptake of evidence than in some other areas. There is also considerable debate in the research field as to what constitutes knowledge, and how to collect it, and the systematic review is more controversial in social research cultures than elsewhere.
Possible solutions: This presentation will identify progress to date in relation to some of these issues, including user input, developments in searching and bibliographic tools, and narrative synthesis of findings.
1. The term 'Social welfare' refers to policy and practice in the provision of personal social care and social services.