Developing and Evaluating a Social Work Assessment Model based on Co-production Methods

Building Better Futures (BBF) is a structured and systematic model developed in Northern Ireland for assessing parenting capacity when there are childcare concerns. This article focuses on the iterative development of the model, through a social work, practitioner-academic, research collaboration. BBF was developed using a mixed method, flexible and multi-modal, iterative design embracing a collaborative approach between social work academics and practitioners. Five senior practitioners (SPs) were appointed for a three-year period to work on the project. The formative implementation and evaluation of the model consisted of a series of co-produced, in-depth mixed-method evaluation studies across the region. The project outcomes confirmed the utility of the model for social work practitioners and the benefits to families. An evaluation of the co-production methodologies identified the importance of building an inclusive, collaborative team with shared trust. The importance of managing power between the groups was identified, and the absence of parents as part of the collaboration was acknowledged. Engagement in research can enhance professional identity and job satisfaction for social workers and develop social work tools and processes which are 'fit for purpose' because they have been influenced by the views of the end users. The ability of parents to care for their children, when they are at risk of harm, is a major concern for the social work profession. A group of academics and social work practitioners worked together to develop an assessment model to guide social work practice in this area. This article presents the process of jointly developing and evaluating the model of assessment, in what is known as co-produced research. There are very few specific examples of research teams combining social work practitioners and academics, in the literature. This article provides a detailed account of the way the team worked together, highlighting the strengths and challenges of working together in this way. The importance of managing the power between the groups is identified and an acknowledgement made that inviting parents onto the research team would have been very helpful. The article concludes by emphasising how beneficial it is for social workers to get involved in research.