What works for children? Reflections on building research and development in a children's charity
| Published date | 01 October 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17466660200600014 |
| Pages | 51-60 |
| Date | 01 October 2006 |
| Author | Helen Roberts |
51
Journal of Children’s Services
Volume 1 Issue 2 October 2006
©Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd
1Professor of Child
Health, Child Health
Research and Policy
Unit, Institute of
Health Sciences,
City University
Abstract
This article describes the background to the What Works initiative launched by Barnardo’s in the early
1990s, with a focus on the What Works for Children series of reports published from 1995 onwards. The
author describes the intellectual and social context of the initiative, the approach taken, and some of the
barriers to and levers for the adoption of research in practice are identified. The article describes more
briefly the ways in which those in the Research and Development (R&D) team at Barnardo’s worked
towards knowledge transfer,both inside and outside the organisation. The article concludes with
reflections on the impact of Barnardo’sinitiatives, the journey still to be travelled to strengthen the
knowledge base of those providing services to children in education, health and social work, and the
need for further work both to strengthen the evidence base and to increase synergies between research,
policy and practice.
Key words
Barnardos; What Works; evidence-based policy and practice; dissemination; research utilisation;
knowledge transfer
Introduction
From the perspective of people who use services, the
question of whether an expert is going to do them
more good than harm is important (Chalmers, 2005;
Oakley et al,2005). The simple question ‘will it
work?’ while rarely susceptible to a simple ‘yes’ or
‘no’ answer, is one to which any service user, whether
they areseeking grommets or juvenile justice, might
reasonably expect a response informed by data as
well as judgement. Despite this, the growing body of
work underpinning evidence-informed practice has
been controversial in both health and social care
(Trinder with Reynolds, 2000; Hammersley, 2005).
In social care1in particular, the establishment of a
firm evidence base, with a stepwise progression of
empirical studies and outcomes for users as a central
core, remains in the early stages of development.
This article considers the part played by Barnardo’s
(a major children’s charity in the UK) in raising the
importance of studies of the effectiveness of
interventions for children. It describes Barnardo’s work
in starting to review and consolidate the evidence
base for children’s services and its increasing focus on
outcomes and the steps taken towards addressing
obstacles to the use of research. It shows how this
work relates to other developments in the field in
terms of getting research into practice and outlines
some of the lessons learnt in the process.
The voluntary sector in the UK, of which
Barnardo’s is a part, has a long record of exposing
need, lobbying for change and providing innovative
What works for children?
Reflections on building
research and development in a
children’s charity
Helen Roberts1
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