Drinking from the Well:Developing social work practice

with service users and carers

Dr Joe DuffyLecturer in Social Work

Queen’s UniversityBelfast

26 March, 2015

Influences

•Being a young carer•Social work practitioner•Being an Academic•Brendan McKeever

The User Involvement Well Drinking from the well is the

metaphor I use in my presentation to portray the depth of challenge involved in trying to achieve user involvement that is about meaningful, real and non-tokenistic engagement. I owe this to Brendan McKeever(User Researcher)

Publications• Duffy, J (2005) Pluralism in Divided Societies - Citizenship Education and Social Work with Care Experienced Young People in

Northern Ireland in Teaching Citizenship, Edited by Alistair Ross - Proceedings of the seventh Conference of the Children’s Identity and Citizenship in Europe Thematic Network, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2005. pp. 313-319 CiCe, London.

• Duffy, J (2006) Participating and Learning - Citizen Involvement in Social Work Education in a Northern Ireland Context. London. Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)www.scie.org.uk/publications/misc/citizeninvolvement.pdf

• Duffy, J., Taylor, B and Mc Call, S (2006). Human rights and Decision-making in Child Protection through Explicit Argumentation Child Care in Practice, 12 (2), April 2006, pp. 81-95.

• Campbell, J and Duffy, J (2008) Social work, political violence and citizenship in Northern Ireland. In Shulamit Ramon (Ed) Social Work in the Context of Political Conflict (IASSW/BASW). pp 57 – 76. Birmingham: Venture Press.

• Duffy, J (2008) Looking Out from the Middle: User Involvement in Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland. London. Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). www.scie.org.uk/publications/reports/report18.asp

• Duffy, J (2008) Citizen Involvement in Social Work Education in the Northern Ireland Context. In Irmgard Jansen (Ed) Social Work in European Comparison. Forschung, Studium und Praxis Schriften des Fachbereichs Sozialwesen der Fachhochschule Munster, Band 13. Munster. Waxmann Verlag.

• Duffy, J (2008) A strategy for service user and carer involvement in the Northern Ireland Post Qualifying Education and Training Partnership (NIPQETP). Belfast. March 2008.

• Weatherall, K and Duffy, J (2008) Are we Listening to Children? An Examination of the Child’s Voice in Social Work Reports to the Court following Parental Separation Disputes. Child Care in Practice, 14 (3), July 2008, pp. 275 – 292.

• Duffy, J (2009) Citizens as Social Work Educators in a Post-Conflict Society: Reflections from Northern Ireland. Revista Alternativas. Cuadernos de Trabajo Social (Alternatives. Notes on Social Work) No 16. Pp.53-63. Alicante. University of Alicante, Spain.

• Basu, S, Duffy, J and Davey, H (2009) ‘Digital Divide, Older People and Online Legal Advice. Belfast. Funded by the Changing Ageing Partnership (CAP).’ http://www.changingageing.org/Research/ResearchLaunchReports/Filetoupload,150619,en.pdf

Publications (cont’d)• Agnew, A and Duffy, J (2009) Effecting positive change with bereaved service users in a hospice setting. International

Journal of Palliative Nursing. Vol 15, No.3. pp 110 - 118.• Duffy,J and Collins ME (2010) Macro impacts on caseworker decision-making in child welfare: a cross-national comparison.

European Journal of Social Work, Volume 13, Issue 1, March 2010, pages 35-54• Agnew, A and Duffy, J (2010) Innovative Approaches to Involving Service Users in Palliative Care Social Work Education,

Social Work Education - the International Journal, Vol, 29(7). pp. 744 -759.• Duffy, J (2011) Explicit Argumentation as a Supervisory Tool for Decision Making in Child Protection Cases Involving Human

Rights Issues. Practice, Vol 23(1). pp 31-44 (Special Edition on Human Rights and Social Justice).• Duffy, J.,Basu, S and Pearson, K (2012) Older people and legal advice – the need for joined up and creative approaches.

Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law , Vol. 34 (1): 31-47.• Duffy, J and Mc Keever, B (2012) Looking out from the middle: Influencing policy change through user involvement. In (eds)

Marian Barnes and Phil Cotterell. Critical Perspectives on User Involvement. Abingdon: The Policy Press.• Duffy, J (2012) Service user involvement in teaching about conflict – an exploration of the issues. International Social Work

(Special Edition on Social Work and Armed Conflict).Vol 55(5) pp. 720 - 739.• Duffy, J., Das, C. & Davidson, G (2012): Service User and Carer Involvement in Role-plays to Assess Readiness for Practice,

Social Work Education - The International Journal. Vol 32(1). pp 39-55.• Duffy, J. and Hayes, D. (2012) Social Work Students Learn About Social Work Values from Service Users and Carers, Ethics

and Social Welfare. Vol 6(4). pp 368-386.• Duffy, J.,Ramon, S.,Guru, S.,Cemlyn, S.,Lindsay, J and Nuttman-Shwartz, O (2013). Developing a social work curriculum on

political conflict – Findings from an IASSW funded project. European Journal of Social Work. Vol. 16(5).pp. 689-707International DVD

• Duffy, J., Martinez-Roman, M.A and Zavirsek, D. (2013) International Messages on Service User and Carer Involvement. International Association of Schools of Social Work(IASSW).http://www.mediator.qub.ac.uk/ms/SocialWork/English.m4v

Working Documents

Key Research Projects Duffy, J (2006) Participating and Learning - Citizen Involvement in Social Work Education in a

Northern Ireland Context. London. Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) www.scie.org.uk/publications/misc/citizeninvolvement.pdf

Duffy, J (2008) Looking Out from the Middle: User Involvement in Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland. London. Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). www.scie.org.uk/publications/reports/report18.asp

Duffy, J (2012) Service user involvement in teaching about conflict – an exploration of the

issues. International Social Work (Special Edition on Social Work and Armed Conflict). Vol 55(5) pp. 720 - 739.

Duffy, J., Das, C. & Davidson, G (2012): Service User and Carer Involvement in Role-plays to Assess Readiness for Practice, Social Work Education - The International Journal. Vol 32(1). pp 39-55.

Duffy, J. and Hayes, D. (2012) Social Work Students Learn About Social Work Values from

Service Users and Carers, Ethics and Social Welfare. Vol 6(4). pp 368-386.

Duffy, J., Martinez-Roman, M.A and Zavirsek, D. (2013) International Messages on Service User and Carer Involvement. International Association of Schools of Social Work(IASSW).http://www.mediator.qub.ac.uk/ms/SocialWork/English.m4v

Connecting Themes

• Power• Language• Humanity• Relationship• Knowledge• Tokenism• Innovation

Methodology• Collaborative approach to research design (Lathlean et

al, 2006; Hanley et al, 2004).• Evaluation projects• Teaching and Research• Mixed methods (focus groups, questionnaires and

interviews) • Total respondents in all projects n=723• Quantitative and qualitative data analysis• ethic of care approach (Ward and Gahagan, 2012)• Pre and Post test studies• Accessibility of research findings

Contribution to Knowledge

• Recommending the involvement of victims and survivors of conflict in teaching (Duffy, 2006;Duffy, 2012).

• Advocating the systematic involvement of service users in health and social care (Duffy, 2008).

• Meaningfully involving service users in assessment (Duffy et al, 2012).

• Involving service users in communities of learning (Duffy and Hayes, 2012).

Opportunities

• Insights from Experiential knowledge in research

• Quality of data• Emancipatory practice/empowering to users• Improved theoretical insights and grasp of

threshold concepts (Meyer and Land, 2005)• Deep learning

Contradictions

•User Involvement appeals to both the political Left and Right ideological standpoints.•Contested nature of knowledge produced from different standpoints (subjectivity ‘v’ objectivity debate/ propositional ‘v’ personal).•Acceptance of ‘user knowledge’ can be a direct challenge to the professional’s power base (Fook, 2002).•Service users may feel disenfranchised from any reality of citizenship, the operation of power may, therefore, be seen as one way (Smith, 2008).•Is it morally questionable for service users to be participating with: “a political and economic system responsible for causing many of their problems” (Carey, 2009:185)

What we know already• Being open and honest are critical attributes for social

workers in helping service users to accept and process difficult decisions (Smith et al, 2011).

• Service user negativity is neutralised by a quality relationship between social workers and families (Buckley et al, 2011:105).

• Positive outcomes attach to social work practice which is positive, partnership and strengths based (Jowitt and O’Loughlin, 2005: Trotter, 2006; Smith, 2008; Saleeby, 2009; Trevithick, 2012).

• Ineffective engagement approaches are unlikely to achieve positive outcomes for parents and their children (Damman, 2014).

Key messages from my work• When user involvement is approached in a structured and genuine way, positive

outcomes can result in terms of developing social work practice with service users and carers that is relationship and partnership based. This approach to practice is consistently valued and called for by those receiving our service.

• The exercise of power is legitimised in the social work role when the professional relationship is built on trust and respect.

• Service users and carers have an important role to play at all levels of social work education and in knowledge production, particularly in ‘critical pedagogy’, dealing with ‘threshold concepts’ and in helping students link theory to practice.

• Service users and carers have an key role to play in the management and delivery of health and social care.

• Service user involvement must be approached in an empowering yet critical way.• Social workers should not lose sight of the justice and politically orientated aspects

of their role.• Approaches to Involvement should be underpinned by the values of the social

work profession (choice, ownership, control and citizenship) and should have opportunities for growth and capacity building for all of those involved.

• Relationship building takes time, investment and hard work!

Future Directions

• Advanced theorising on User Involvement (Bourdieu, Foucault, Honneth)

• Assessing the longer term impact of user involvement in social work education

• Developing mentoring projects• Service user involvement in assessing practice

learning• Innovative observational practice opportunities• Development of Mobile Application on Involvement

Working in Partnership

International Messages on User Involvement

Duffy, J., Martinez-Roman, M.A and Zavirsek, D. (2013) International Messages on Service User and Carer Involvement. International Association of Schools of Social Work(IASSW).http://www.mediator.qub.ac.uk/ms/SocialWork/English.m4v

A final thought

“Meaningful user involvement means that the well can swallow you up, it is not just a subject, it is a way of life, it is real.”Brendan McKeever (24 March, 2015)

References• Beresford, P. (2013) From ‘other’ to involved: user involvement in research: an emerging paradigm. Nordic Social Work

Research. DOI: 10.1080/2156857X.2013.835138• Buckley, H., Carr, N. and Whelan, S. (2011) Like walking on eggshells: Service user views and expectations of the child

protection system’, Child & Family Social Work, 16(1): 101–10.• Carey, M (2009) Happy Shopper? The Problem with Service User and Carer Participation. British Journal of Social Work. Vol

39: 179–188• Damman, J (2014) “Birth parent involvement: Developing indicators to establish meaningful involvement” Conference

paper. Kansas University. 14 November, 2014.• Fook, J (2002) Social Work: Critical Theory and Practice. London: Sage.• Hanley, B., Bradburn, J., Barnes, M., Evans, C., Goodare, H., Kelston, M., Kent, A., Oliver, S., Thomas, S. and Wallcraft, J.

(2004) Involving the public in NHS, publichealth and social care research: briefing notes for researchers , Eastleigh: INVOLVE.• Jowitt, M. & O’Loughlin, S (2005) Social Work with Children and Families. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd.• Lathlean, J., A. Burgess, T. Coldham, C. Gibson, L. Herbert, T. Levett-Jones, L. Simons and S. Tee (2006) ‘Experiences of

Service User and Carer Participation in Health Care Education’, Nurse Education Today Vol 26: 732–7.• Meyer, J.H.F and Land, R (2005) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge (2): Epistemological Considerations and a

Conceptual Framework for Teaching and Learning. Higher Education. Vol. 49(3). pp. 373-388.• Saleeby, D. (Ed.) (2006) The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice, Fourth Edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon/Longman.• Smith, R. (2008) Social Work and Power. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.• Smith, M., Gallagher, M., Wosu, H., Stewart, J., Cree, V.E., Hunter, S., Evans, S., Montgomery, C., Holiday, S., Wilkinson, H.

(2011) 'Engaging with Involuntary Service Users in Social Work: Findings from a Knowledge Exchange Project' British Journal of Social Work. DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcr162. pp: 1–18.

• Trevithick, P. (2012) Social Work Skills and Knowledge: A Practice Handbook. 3rd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press.• Trotter, C. (2006) Working with Involuntary Clients – A Guide to Practice. London: Sage Publications.• Ward, L and Gahagan, B (2012) Involving older people in research: empowering engagement? In M. Barnes, & P. Cotterell

(Eds.), Critical perspectives on user involvement (pp. 181-189). Bristol, Chicago IL: The Policy Press.

Thank You

Joe Duffy

joe.duffy@qub.ac.uk