Translating the Sexual Abuse Evidence Base into Effective Policy and Practice

Author(s):  
Kieran McCartan
2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Szarka

The practice of “technological forcing,” understood as policy designed to accelerate technological innovation for the purposes of environmental protection, was pioneered in the USA during the 1970s and continued in Europe with feed-in tariffs for renewable energy and the emissions trading scheme. In order to draw lessons for climate policy, the article tests the capacity of “technological forcing” to translate ecological modernization theory into effective policy and practice, by providing analysis of three case studies. It argues that ambitious climate policies require not only technical proficiency in policy design, but also greater acknowledgment of the need to achieve structural change in major industrial sectors. It concludes that technology-based policies need to be accompanied by economic and political strategies to counteract incumbent resistance, and delineates potential means to do so.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 352
Author(s):  
Catherine Campbell ◽  
Marjorie Collins ◽  
Corinne Reid

This paper discusses conceptual, ethical, pragmatic and paradigmatic constraints encountered in a T2 ‘bench to bedside’ translational research endeavour piloting an early intervention program for young children who have experienced sexual abuse. The resultant child-centric intervention research framework emerged from the challenges associated with trauma-related clinical work, the absence of an evidence-base and the difficulties of adopting traditional positivistic methodologies when evaluating practice in this complex field. Critically, the resultant framework was person-centred and, hence, individually responsive. More specifically, it was child-centred and so developmental and systemic issues were privileged.


Author(s):  
Ian Thomas ◽  
Peter Mackie

The aim of this paper is to set out the principles of an ideal data system. Good data is crucial to effective policy and practice development in all social policy spheres and this is a particular challenge in the context of homelessness policy. Policy makers, practitioners and researchers have been highly critical of the current state of homelessness data across the globe, with concerns largely focused on the incompleteness of the data. Most research has narrowly focused on the strengths and weaknesses of different data collection techniques, such as Point-In-Time counts. However, good data does not only derive from the data collection method - consideration must also be given to the wider data system, including how data are generated, reported, analysed, and crucially, how they are made accessible and to who. The evidence base for the paper is a desk-based review of 49 data collection systems from 8 countries, including systems in health and social care settings—where data are being increasingly used to drive more effective care. The different systems are synthesised to generate 8 areas of design, being: data architecture, governance, data quality, ethical and legal, privacy/security, data access, and importantly, purpose. Drawing these elements together, the paper concludes that data collection should adopt a common data standard shared across the sector, enabling inter-organisational information sharing and improving collaboration; reporting to local and central government must not be one-sided, instead data providers should receive some tangible benefit for their engagement; the focus of analysis needs to shift from statistics toward evaluation into the effectiveness of interventions; and access must be available to a range of sector actors, including service providers and academia. Importantly, the paper also concludes that in delivering the ideal system, care must be taken not to interrupt the delivery of effective homelessness interventions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Almack ◽  
Andrew King

In this article, we provide critical observations of empirical research from leading U.K. researchers relating to the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans older adults. We suggest learning that may be applied in differing global contexts as well as contributing to the development of an international evidence base. We illustrate the importance of paying attention to distinct health and care systems and legislation, which present global differences as well as similarities in terms of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people’s perceptions and access to resources. With this contextual background, we then discuss the cutting-edge U.K. research in this field from 2010 onward. We identify key strengths including the contribution our evidence has made to policy and practice and the development of theoretical insights such as the impact of intersectionality. The article concludes with a discussion of future research in this field which has relevance at national and international levels.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-132
Author(s):  
Katy Jones ◽  
Anya Ahmed ◽  
Iolo Madoc-Jones ◽  
Andrea Gibbons ◽  
Michaela Rogers ◽  
...  

Alongside an increasing focus on ‘prevention’, moving homeless adults into work is frequently considered an important part of helping them overcome homelessness and sustain an ‘independent’ life. However, a growing evidence base shows that work does not always offer the means to escape poverty, and many in employment face housing insecurity. Relatedly, there is increasing concern about the phenomenon of ‘in-work homelessness’. Drawing on new data from a study of people’s experience of homelessness in Wales, this article considers the hitherto underexplored topic of being both in work and homeless. The article provides a critical examination of how homelessness policy operates in practice, through presenting evidence of the experiences of a marginalised group (namely, working homeless people as users of homelessness services). It also considers how policy and practice could be modified to improve outcomes for homeless people and how prevention could play out in other contexts and welfare regimes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-33
Author(s):  
Gary Wade

The role of social workers in safeguarding and child protection has received much critical attention in recent years, in an evolving political and social arena, where policy and practice has shifted following both public outcry of serious case reviews and subsequent policy and practice changes concerning the profession and how it services the needs of the most vulnerable in society. This article seeks to critically examine the current methodology for identifying suspected child sexual abuse signs and indicators, the evolving spectrum of abuse, including critical evaluation of current perspectives on child sexual exploitation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Wong ◽  
Kris Christmann ◽  
Michelle Rogerson ◽  
Neil Monk

The underreporting of hate crime is recognised as problematic for jurisdictions across Europe and beyond. Within the UK, the landmark inquiry report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence 25 years ago has seen governments faithfully adhering to a policy of promoting the increased reporting of hate crime. An enduring legacy of the inquiry, third-party reporting centres (TPRCs) have been equally faithfully promoted as the primary vehicle for achieving such increases. While the nations of the United Kingdom have pioneered the development of TPRCs, their function and form have been adopted in other jurisdictions, including Victoria, Australia. Nevertheless, despite their reliance on TPRCs, policymakers have given limited attention to their efficacy. The evidence from a plethora of small scale studies has consistently found that TPRCs have been limited by public awareness, capability, capacity and poor oversight difficulties. Responding to these long-standing problems, the authors have developed the first ‘TPRC assessment tool’ which offers a diagnostic facility to improve effectiveness. This paper describes the development and piloting of this tool and highlights its potential to inform policy and practice both in the UK and internationally, providing an original contribution to the limited evidence base around third-party reporting.


2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1681) ◽  
pp. 20140280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Pressey ◽  
Piero Visconti ◽  
Paul J. Ferraro

Policy and practice around protected areas are poorly aligned with the basic purpose of protection, which is to make a difference. The difference made by protected areas is their impact, defined in program evaluation as the outcomes arising from protection relative to the counterfactual of no protection or a different form of protection. Although impact evaluation of programs is well established in fields such as medicine, education and development aid, it is rare in nature conservation. We show that the present weak alignment with impact of policy targets and operational objectives for protected areas involves a great risk: targets and objectives can be achieved while making little difference to the conservation of biodiversity. We also review potential ways of increasing the difference made by protected areas, finding a poor evidence base for the use of planning and management ‘levers’ to better achieve impact. We propose a dual strategy for making protected areas more effective in their basic role of saving nature, outlining ways of developing targets and objectives focused on impact while also improving the evidence for effective planning and management.


BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. e012459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Bauman ◽  
Karen Milton ◽  
Maina Kariuki ◽  
Karla Fedel ◽  
Mary Lewicka

ObjectiveThe proliferation of studies using motivational signs to promote stair use continues unabated, with their oft-cited potential for increasing population-level physical activity participation. This study examined all stair use promotional signage studies since 1980, calculating pre-estimates and post-estimates of stair use. The aim of this project was to conduct a sequential meta-analysis to pool intervention effects, in order to determine when the evidence base was sufficient for population-wide dissemination.DesignUsing comparable data from 50 stair-promoting studies (57 unique estimates) we pooled data to assess the effect sizes of such interventions.ResultsAt baseline, median stair usage across interventions was 8.1%, with an absolute median increase of 2.2% in stair use following signage-based interventions. The overall pooled OR indicated that participants were 52% more likely to use stairs after exposure to promotional signs (adjusted OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.37 to 1.70). Incremental (sequential) meta-analyses using z-score methods identified that sufficient evidence for stair use interventions has existed since 2006, with recent studies providing no further evidence on the effect sizes of such interventions.ConclusionsThis analysis has important policy and practice implications. Researchers continue to publish stair use interventions without connection to policymakers' needs, and few stair use interventions are implemented at a population level. Researchers should move away from repeating short-term, small-scale, stair sign interventions, to investigating their scalability, adoption and fidelity. Only such research translation efforts will provide sufficient evidence of external validity to inform their scaling up to influence population physical activity.


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