Methodology

The values that we worked to were:

• Involvement - of people with lived experience through co-production.
• Authenticity of the resources so that they reflected real experience.
• Evidence-informed resources that draw on carers’ views, practice experience and research.
• Helpfulness of resources that are accessible, relevant and practical.

DH specified that the case studies would be based around five particular situations:

• Sandwich carer caring for a parent and for a child.

• Young carer supporting a parent with a mental health problem.

• Partner carer supporting a partner who is moving into a care home.

• Partner carer supporting a partner who has a life-limiting illness.

• Parent carers supporting an adult child with a learning disability.

DH also identified some topics that the resource should cover and surveyed the Principal Social Worker (PSW) Network to ascertain development needs in this practice area.

A project team was established in Research in Practice led by a project manager with seven staff and associates who had expertise in: social work practice; training transfer; scoping evidence; product development; and information technology.

Carers UK and Carers Trust were approached to recruit carers for the project. They were given the five situations and asked to recruit carers who were prepared to share their experience and would be able to comment on the situation.

Practitioners were recruited via the PSW Network to co-produce the case studies with carers and Research in Practice.

The main steps in the project were:

We used the above definition and principles of co-production (SCIE 2015)

• Equality: Everyone has assets although we had some parameters set for the case studies, carers and practitioners created all the details for the case studies; we used participants words.
• Diversity: Carers UK and Carers Trust recruited a wide range of carers in terms of age, ethnicity, locality and experience.
• Accessibility: We met in an accessible time and place; we facilitated group work that enabled everyone to share their experience.
• Reciprocity: We covered expenses and acknowledged carers’ vital input to the resource.

We carried out a review of the evidence around social work with carers. This was not a robust literature review, as that was outside the scope of this project. Its aim was to support the development of the resources, to ensure that they did not duplicate existing resources and to identify gaps. The approach was to:

• Look at evidence from the last five years available on the web in the English language, including academic literature, government policy and examples of good practice.
• Identify materials related to the knowledge and theory of social work practice with adults (over the age of 18) and carers, young carers and parent/ carers of children with particular needs in transition into adulthood.
• Identify themes and messages related to social work effectiveness or effective work from other professions or multi-agency arenas that was transferrable.

The review therefore included: introduction; scope; definitions; research by theme; gaps in the evidence; summary messages, emerging themes; and references. This approach reflects Research in Practice’s committment to evidence-informed practice; that is, to drawing on lived experience, practitioner experience and research evidence to identify implications and messages for practice. In evidence-informed practice, all three sources of evidence are valuable and interact with each other to enrich practitioners’ professional judgement (e.g. Nevo and Slonim-Nevo 2011).

This was not in the original plan. However, in the workshop carers spoke about their own experiences and of their hopes for the impact of the resource. We agreed that in the second workshop we would capture carers’ views on film. This supported the co-production principle of working with people’s assets (SCIE 2015).

During the first workshop, we asked carers to identify the top dos and don’ts for practice. We then amalgamated these into a long list. When we met with carers again, we asked each group to pick the top ten dos and the top five don’ts. We then amalgamated these into 12 dos and six don’ts in the top tips for practice.

We identified that there was foundation knowledge that social workers needed for good practice with carers, based on the KSS and PCF. The resources that supported this were identified through the topics search. This included:

• General resources about social work.
• General resources about caring.
• General resources for social work with carers.
• Law and policy.
• Useful sites.

We created documents to signpost people to these, rather than seeking to replicate existing materials.

Training transfer research (e.g. Research in Practice 2012) emphasises the importance of learners: identifying learning needs; reflecting on their learning; identifying actions and support to use the learning in practice; and evidencing their learning.

We therefore created:

• A learning needs analysis, based on capabilities for social work with carers that we drew from the KSS and PCF.
• A critical reflection too based on Kolb’s cycle.
• An action planning tool.
• A continuing professional development record.

We developed train-the-trainer materials (powerpoint presentation with notes plus a workbook) for sessions to support workforce development and professional leads to use the materials.

These drew on training transfer research and addressed:

• Learning objectives.
• Carers’ views - to ensure relevance to practice.
• The context - to identify motivation.
• The evidence - to ensure relevance to practice.
• Barriers and enablers - to identify factors to support transfer of learning.
• Practical work using the resources - to model and embed use.
• Critical reflection and action planning - to identify learning and plan for its use.

We used the workshops as an opportunity to identify top tips for trainers, example session plans and example exercises to support others to deliver training. We also used the workshops to gain feedback on the structure and clarity of the microsite.

The microsite was developed based on the structure of the cases. We used learning from feedback on Research in Practice’s main site and from the workshops to ensure that it was: uncluttered; clear; used plain English; used eye-catching quotes; and was accessible in terms of downloading materials.

Research in Practice held a webinar to introduce the resource. Again, this drew on training transfer evidence and included: learning objectives; context; evidence; carers’ voices; and practice in using the site. It was recorded and put on the welcome page to support use of the resource.

• Link to useful resources that already exist - we added links to law and policy, including safeguarding, based on the feedback we received.
• Make sure that the methodology is clear - we have added this methodology.
• Evaluate impact - we will be adding a survey to the website and following up with people who have been involved in sessions.

• Where possible, co-produce resources following the principles of co-production.
• Use co-production from the start of a project through all stages.
• Involve existing organisations to identify participants who have relevant experience.
• Embed lived experience at the heart of practice resources.
• Use multi-methods to meet different learning needs, styles and outcomes.
• Continue to base resources on training transfer principles, and build in opportunities for feedback.