Outcomes in practice的的结果在实践中.docVIP

Outcomes in practice: A report on focus groups with social work practitioners, seniors and managers in North Lanarkshire November 2008 Foreword North Lanarkshire Council social work department moved towards outcomes focused assessment for individuals and families during 2007, following reflective practice development days for staff. A year following this development, there was interest within North Lanarkshire in finding out more from practitioners and managers about what was working and what more needed to be done to support the focus on outcomes in practice. Although the original staff group involved social work only, the next phase, which will follow early in 2009, will include joint development days for health and social work staff. There was therefore an additional imperative for finding out how to support new staff to come on board. From the perspective of the Joint Improvement Team, responsible at a national level for developing the UDSET approach (which also focuses on service user and carer outcomes), there was interest in learning the lessons from North Lanarkshire and sharing these with a wider constituency. With these agendas in mind, we jointly hosted three focus groups over two days in September 2008. We weren’t sure what to expect from the discussions, whether people would have much to say on the subject or how positive or otherwise the feedback might be. In practice, the participants in all three focus groups were powerful informants, requiring very little encouragement to engage in the topic. We both thoroughly enjoyed the discussions across the three groups, because of the general enthusiasm for outcomes and the shared insights into how outcomes had influenced practice. Additionally, while there were concerns and doubts about progressing the approach, there were also a variety of suggestions and ideas about how barriers could be overcome. We hope that those who par