Making Social Work Count Lecture 2

An ESRC Curriculum Innovation and Researcher Development Initiative

Why Numbers Matter in Social Work

Learning outcomes

appreciate that numbers are a

critical component of social work

practice

understand how numbers can be

created, represented and

interpreted in social work practice

explore how quantification of an

issue can help us understand a complex issue

understand some basic statistical

concepts such as incidence,

prevalence and comparison

Quick quiz!

• How many children are there living in England?

9,000,000

11,000,000

13,000,000Office for National Statistics, 2012

Quick quiz!

• How many children are there living in England?

9,000,000

11,000,000

13,000,000

X

Office for National Statistics, 2012

Quick quiz!

• How many children are living in poverty in England?

One in ten

One in five

One in threeSave the Children, 2012

Quick quiz!

• How many children are living in poverty in England?

One in ten

One in five

One in three XSave the Children, 2012

Quick quiz!

• What proportion of children in England are believed to have a parent with a serious drug problem?

Two in every ten thousand (0.02%)

Two in every thousand (0.2%)

Two in every hundred (2%)Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003

Quick quiz!

• What proportion of children in England are believed to have a parent with a serious drug problem?

Two in every ten thousand (0.02%)

Two in every thousand (0.2%)

Two in every hundred (2%) XAdvisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003

Quick Quiz!

• What proportion of children in Scotland are believed to have a parent with a serious drug problem?

Five in every ten thousand (0.05%)

Five in every thousand (0.5%)

Five in every hundred (5%)Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003

Quick quiz!

• What proportion of children in Scotland are believed to have a parent with a serious drug problem?

Five in every ten thousand (0.05%)

Five in every thousand (0.5%)

Five in every hundred (5%) XAdvisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003

Quick quiz!

• What proportion of children believed to have a parent with a serious drug problem are still living with their mother?

64%

79%

92%Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003

Quick quiz!

• What proportion of children believed to have a parent with a serious drug problem are still living with their mother?

64%

79%

92%

X

Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003

Quick quiz!

• What proportion of children believed to have a parent with a serious drug problem are still living with their father?

26%

37%

48%Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003

Quick quiz!

• What proportion of children believed to have a parent with a serious drug problem are still living with their father?

26%

37%

48%

X

Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003

Quick quiz!

• What proportion of children believed to have a parent with a serious drug problem are in care?

15%

10%

5%

Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003

Quick quiz!

• What proportion of children believed to have a parent with a serious drug problem are in care?

15%

10%

5% XAdvisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs, 2003

Why are statistics useful?

• With your buddy, discuss why these statistics are useful for social workers and their managers to know

An exemplar: understanding domestic violence using statistics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt7JZSrDJA8

Defining domestic violence

Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This can encompass, but is not limited to, the following types of abuse: psychological; physical; sexual; financial; emotional.

Home Office, 2012

We might want to know.......

• How many people are suffering domestic violence for the first time each year (the incidence of domestic violence)?

• How many people have suffered domestic violence over a given time period (the prevalence of domestic violence)?

• What behaviours and actions constitute domestic violence?

• What is the impact of domestic violence?

• What interventions are most likely to make a difference?

Police statistics in Northern Ireland

Gathering data at a point in time allows us to look at trends over time.

What might an increase in police statistics tell us?

• There has been an increase in incidents of domestic violence?

• There are more incidents of domestic violence being reported to the police?

• Victims are more likely to report domestic violence to the police?

• Other people are more likely to report domestic violence to the police?

How might we measure this issue more accurately?• We could ask victims

• We could ask perpetrators

• We could ask providers of services to victims (shelters, hospitals, benefits agency)

• We could ask criminal justice agencies (police, courts)

• We could ask a selection of the general population

What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of these approaches?

British Crime Survey

• The British Crime Survey (BCS) seeks to measure the amount of crime experienced in England and Wales each year.

• It involves an annual survey of 46,000 individuals aged 16yrs and above, and 4,000 children aged between 10yrs-15yrs, about their experiences of crime in the previous year.

…Continued

• The Home Office asserts that the BCS can provide a better reflection of the true level of crime than police statistics since it includes crimes that have not been reported to, or recorded by, the police.

• The under-reporting of crime to the police is known to be particularly acute for intimate violence offences and one of the strengths of the BCS is that it covers many crimes that are not reported to the police.

How should we ask about these issues?

• Should we use:– face-to-face interviews

– telephone interviews

– self-completion questionnaires

• The BCS uses both face to face interviews supplemented by self completion modules for sensitive topics.

Response levels

• 76% of those who stated in the face-to face-interviews that they were the victim of domestic violence, also stated this in the self-completion module.

• Only 5% of those who reported being the victim of domestic violence in the self-questionnaire also said this in the face- to-face module.

• The increased level of reporting in the self-completion module means that this is a more reliable source for information on these types of offence.

The statistical picture

• 7% of women and 5% of men were estimated to have experienced domestic abuse in the last year in England, equivalent to an estimated 1.2 million female and 800,000 male victims.

• Non-physical abuse (i.e. emotional and financial abuse) was the most common type of abuse experienced by both female (57%) and male partner abuse victims (46%).

• Around a quarter (27%) of partner abuse victims suffered a physical injury as a result of the abuse. Among those who had experienced any physical injury or other effects (such as emotional problems), around a quarter (28%) received some sort of medical attention.

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/hosb0212/hosb0212?view=Binary

Statistical picture... continued

• Around a quarter (23%) of partner abuse victims reported sharing accommodation with their abusive partner with 42 per cent of these victims leaving the accommodation because of the abuse even if it was for only one night.

• Reasons mentioned for not leaving the shared accommodation were presence of children (38%), love or feelings for partner (34%), and having nowhere to go (21%).

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/hosb0212/hosb0212?view=Binary

Intimate partner violence experienced since age of 16yrs

Types of abuse experienced

How might we assess the impact of domestic violence?

• At a point in time• Over time (immediate v longer term)• Self reports• Clinical judgement by professionals• Standardised measures• Comparison between groups

Physical and psychological injuries

• Around a quarter (27%) of partner abuse victims reported that they sustained some sort of physical injury.

• Minor bruising or black eye (19%) and scratches (13%) were the most common type of injuries sustained.

• Some victims reported ‘mental or emotional problems’ (39%), ‘stopped trusting people or difficulty in other relationships’ (19%) and ‘tried to kill self’ (4%).

Injuries... continued

• 28% of partner abuse victims who had experienced any physical injury or other effects received some sort of medical attention

• The vast majority (82%) of victims who received medical attention did so from a GP or at a doctor’s surgery.

• 18% of those partner abuse victims who had received medical attention had gone to a hospital’s Accident and Emergency department.

• 14% had gone to specialist mental health or psychiatric services.

Interpreting numbers.......

• Around a quarter (27%) of partner abuse victims reported that they sustained some sort of physical injury.

• 28% of partner abuse victims who had experienced any physical injury or other effects received some sort of medical attention: that means 28% of the 27% of partner abuse victims who reported they sustained some sort of physical injury.

What proportion of people who report having experienced domestic violence receive some sort of medical attention?

28% of 27% = 7.56% of all victims

Longer term impact on mental health

• Depression and post traumatic stress disorder, which have substantial co-morbidity, are the most prevalent mental health sequelae of domestic violence.

• A comprehensive meta-analysis of mainly US studies, showed that the risk for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder associated with domestic violence was even higher than that resulting from childhood sexual assault.

Impact... continued

• A Canadian population-based study, found that in addition to depression, abused women had significantly more anxiety, insomnia, and social dysfunction than those not abused, with physical violence having a stronger effect than psychological abuse.

The association between domestic violence and child abuse

Hamby et al., 2010

The association between domestic violence and child abuse

Hamby et al., 2010

The association between domestic violence and child abuse

Hamby et al., 2010

Small group task

• What are the strengths and limitations of having quantitative data about the impact of domestic violence on victims?

• What other information would complement this quantitative information?

Intervening effectively: what works?

“The main principle of evidence based practice is that where services are based on the best evidence of effectiveness, alongside the acceptability to clients, the interventions delivered are more likely to lead to successful outcomes and less likely to cause harm”Moseley & Tierney (2005)

Group-based programmes for male perpetrators • Domestic violence perpetrators

heterogeneous

• 1/3 of domestic violence perpetrators may cease their behaviour without any legal or therapeutic intervention

• An (unknown) proportion of men may never change behaviour irrespective of the quality and fidelity of the intervention

• Range of current interventions usually limited

….Continued

• Two commonly used groupwork programmes – Duluth and CBT based

• Challenge of engaging domestically violent men in behavioural and cognitive change

• Effectiveness of intervention programmes are typically small

• d= 0.35 for Duluth programmes

• d= 0.29 for cognitive-behavioural programmes

• The programmes work for some men, some of the time – need to be more specific in determining who is able and willing to engage

Learning outcomes

Are you able to:

• appreciate that numbers are a critical component of social work practice

• understand how numbers can be created, represented and interpreted in social work practice

• explore how quantification of an issue can help us understand a complex issue

• understand some basic statistical concepts such as incidence, prevalence and comparison

Activity

Activity - Part A

• Ask students to think about a significant social issue that social workers are likely to deal with in practice. Ask the students to think about how they might better understand:

- the scale or size of the issue in society at large and the community they might work in

- the impact of the issue on an individual at a point in time, and over time

- whether their intervention with the individual was making a difference, and if so, whether that difference was helpful or not

Activity - Part A continued

• The point of this exercise is to draw out that social work practice is informed by both qualitative and quantitative information, and the skill is in knowing which type of information will answer which question. For example, in working with a parent who is reporting difficulties in managing their pre-school child’s behaviour it is important to ask how they feel, but also to collect information about the nature of the child’s behaviour and the parent’s strategies for dealing with any inappropriate behaviour. In such circumstances an A(ntecedents)B(ehaviour)C(onsequences) book might be helpful. Over time the parent should also record the frequency of challenging behaviours to show whether any changes in their parenting strategies are having the desired effect.

Activity – Part B

• Students should have read Beth Humphries chapter on ‘Experimental ways of knowing’. Ask them to discuss the ‘Stop and Think’ questions on p48:

• What advantages do experimental designs have over other methods in research in social work?

• What do you consider are the problems of ‘cause and effect’ methods for the study of human beings?

• What are some of the ethical questions that arise in experimental design, and how can they be addressed?

• In considering the appropriateness of experimental methods, when might you decide to use them? Think of a topic and write down a few questions on that topic which you think would be addressed by an experimental approach.

References

• Haynes, L., Service, O., Goldacre, B. and Torgerson, D. (2012) Test, Learn, Adapt: Developing Public Policy with Randomised Controlled Trials. Cabinet Office, London. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/62529/TLA-1906126.pdf

• Humphries, B. (2008) ‘Experimental ways of knowing’ in Social Work Research for Social Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Chapter 3: pp33-49.

• Poulin, M., Orchowsky, S. and Trask, J. (2011) Is This a Good Quality Outcome Evaluation Report? A Guide for Practitioners. Justice Research and Statistics Association, Washington.

• Available at: https://www.bja.gov/evaluation/reference/Quality_Outcome_Eval.pdf

• Sheldon, B. and Macdonald, G. (2009) ‘Evidence based practice’ in A Textbook of Social Work. Routledge, Oxon. Chapter 4: pp66-91