Outcomes and Effectiveness of Family Support Services: A Research Review. In Practice Issues (original) (raw)
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Contents 10 4 FINDINGS: OUTCOMES AFTER THREE MONTHS Social, economic and demographic change 12 Well-being after three months Social worker assessment at the three-month follow-up 13 Social worker assessment a year later Child protection and children accommodated Families' experiences of services Reasons for non take-up of services 5 COSTS AND OUTCOMES Use of services Unit costs of services Total costs of services 19 Costs and outcomes 6 DISCUSSION Key findings The role of day care in supporting families Poverty and economic deprivation The importance of an inter-agency response 22 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Accessible support 23 Best value 23 Applying cost-effectiveness analysis to social welfare programmes 23 5 LIST OF TABLES CONCLUSION 26 REFERENCES 27 APPENDICES 1 Sampling criteria 2 Family Problems Questionnaire 30 3 Response rate 31 4 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the interview sample 5 Composite indicators of social disadvantage and vulnerability 6 Family problems 7 The service response 8 Social worker interview at start of study 9 Well-being of respondents at first and second interviews 10 Circumstances of families at second interview 11 Respondents' experience of services 12 Social worker follow-up interview after three months 13 Service use and costs 3.1 Schedules completed 3.2 Refusals/non-completions 4.1 Demographic and economic characteristics 32 5.1 Combined indicators of social disadvantage and vulnerability 6.1 Problems cited by families 34 6.2 Severity of main problem 34 6.3 Classification of families by problem type 34 7.1 Services families are waiting for 35 7.2 How respondents feel about receiving the services arranged or awaited 35 7.3 Ways in which respondents thought that the arranged service might help 36 7.4 Other services respondents thought would make their situation easier 36 8.1 Who made the referral? 37 8.2 Family situation at referral 37 8.3 Reasons for arranging services to support a child 37 8.4 Social workers' objectives in arranging service 38 9.1 Summary of scores on GHQ and FPQ at first and second interview 39 9.2 Number of cases agreeing or agreeing strongly with selected questions from the FPQ at first and second interview 39 9.3 Association between family characteristics and well-being 40 9.4 Association between family situation as recorded by social workers and well-being 41 10.1 Demographic and socioeconomic circumstances at second interview 42 10.2 Degree of social contact at first and second interview 42 11.1 Respondents' experience of the main service arranged 43 11.2 Change in severity of main problem/stress identified at first interview 44 11.3 Other services that respondents think would make their situation easier 44 11.4 Current position on other services awaited three months ago 44 12.1 Social worker records at three months 45 13.1 Services used in the three months before the first interview 46 13.2 Services used in the three months before the second interview 47 13.3 Unit costs of family support services 48 13.4 Cost of the family support services of Table 13.3 48 6 Acknowledgement We would like to thank all the staff in Conwy and Denbighshire social services departments and NCH Action for Children Cymru who contributed precious time to collaborate with us on this work. We are grateful to the Wales Office of Research and Development for supporting and funding this study. A particular debt of gratitude is owed to the families who, despite the difficulties they were facing in their lives, were prepared to answer our questions not once but twice, in the hope that their views and experiences might influence the provision of family support services. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Wales Office of Research and Development,
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