探花社区

Work within the Informing Professional Interventions group covers four main areas:

• drugs and alcohol policy and services
• the changing face of professionalism
• gender and sexualities in social care and social work
• families and well-being.

Across these areas, we critically examine interventions and services in health, social work, education, and criminal justice. We investigate how they address issues of social justice.

Our work also examines the relationship between the state and major public sector professions. This includes changes in professionalism and professional learning in the 21st century.

Aims

We critically examine the relationship between policy and professional work in the public sector. Our research covers health, social work, and education.

Background

Our work is strongly interdisciplinary. It draws on:

• social policy
• social work
• nursing and healthcare
• education.

Many researchers in the group have professional backgrounds in these areas.

Drugs and alcohol policy and services

The first area examines drugs and alcohol policy and services. It is led by Betsy Thom and Rachel Herring.

Work in this area includes:

• developing service delivery, including changing professional behaviours
• examining community-based approaches to alcohol-related harm
• studying how social norms about drinking are transmitted among young people, including the implications for prevention
• examining European policy on alcohol and drugs
• analysing historical and contemporary ‘stakeholders’ in European alcohol policy.

This work contributes to theory in several areas. It develops critical understanding of the factors that drive changes in service delivery systems. It also contributes to theories of change that apply to professional behaviour.

The research critiques the ideological basis of the move towards "evidence-based" policy and practice. It examines the emergence and development of concepts such as binge drinking from a social constructivist perspective. It also develops cross-national approaches to policy analysis and its methods.

The changing face of professionalism

The second area examines the relationship between the state and major public sector professions. It also investigates the changing nature of professionalism in the 21st century.

The researchers have also used pan-European approaches to analyse policy and interventions. Carmel Clancy, Rena Papadopoulos, Peter Ryan, and Michael Traynor lead this work.

Research in this area focuses on:

• the preparation of professionals, particularly cultural competence
• the potential use of ‘profiling’ to examine student and professional performance
• the growth of managerialism and its effect on professional accountability and identity
• critical analysis of workforce transformation, including the growth of assistant practitioner roles
• the configuration of services
• service user experience and involvement in service delivery.

Gender and sexualities in social care and social work

The third area focuses on gender and sexualities in social care and social work. Trish Hafford-Letchfield leads this work.

Lesbian and gay fostering has been a particular area of policy research. This work deconstructs the discourses surrounding social work, anti-discriminatory practice, and anti-oppressive practice.

Theoretical development focuses on:

• work with older people
• adoption
• fostering
• social work and religion.

Families and well-being

The fourth area concerns families and well-being. McDonald has led the international Families And Schools Together intervention. It is based on family stress and family systems theory.

The programme has received wide endorsement, partly because of the strong evidence for its effectiveness. It has also achieved a high profile.

Funders

Funders include:

• the EU
• the Department of Health
• major charitable funders
• local health and social care providers.